“Wow, you look great!”

“Thanks. I really like it,” she said, blushing.

She looked me up and down with a sly smile. “Yours looks fantastic, I bet that boyfriend of yours will love it!” She wiggled her eyebrows.

“Oh God, Tricia, stop. You’re embarrassing me.”

“I’m just saying how I see it. Besides, he’s a guy. Of course he’s going to love the way it hugs your curves.”

“Now you’re just making it worse,” I deadpanned.

“Okay, okay.” She raised her hands in surrender. “Geez.”

We changed back into our clothes and walked to the counter to make our purchases.

Putting our bags in the back of her car, she held her hand against her chest in mock disdain, “Good Lord, now I’m gonna have to find a guy to take me somewhere to wear this dress, you know that, right, Sam?”

I blushed. She was perceptive as always.

“Yes, yes, I know, you already have Alec,” she teased.

My phone beeped with a text message. I looked at the lock screen and saw it was from Alec.

A:

Sorry I took so long to reply. I can come to dinner.

Me:

Great! I’ll see you tomorrow.

A:

Ok.

I shook my head. Usually he ended our texts with Love you always.

Me:

I love you.

A:

You, too.

“Huh,” I muttered to myself.

“What’s that?” Tricia asked.

“Oh, nothing. Umm, Alec is coming to dinner tomorrow though.”

“Sweet.” She drew out the word.

“God, Tricia, please don’t embarrass me.”

“Stop, you know I won’t,” she admonished, “Let’s call Mom on the way home, and see if she needs anything from the store for tomorrow’s dinner. Aunt Olivia should be arriving soon,” she said.

“Okay, sounds good.”

Senior year was flying by. I was on my way to my car after lunch to get a bracelet I’d made Heather for her birthday when I saw Alec getting out of his truck. He’d been acting strange for a couple weeks.

“Hey, baby,” I called as I ran up to him.

“Huh? Oh. Hi Samone,” he murmured.

I paused and stepped back, looking up at the guy I loved. “Alec, why are you just getting to school? It’s lunchtime. Is everything all right? You’ve been acting weird lately.”

“Everything’s fine. I’ve just—been busy. Not a big deal.” He roughed his hands through his hair. “Look, I’m running late as it is. I’ll catch up with you later.”

He brushed past me, heading toward the school office. I leaned back against his truck and wondered what the hell that was all about. I had to find out what was going on, whether he wanted to tell me or not. This evasive crap had to stop.

I met up with Heather in my last class of the day and gave her the bracelet I’d made.

“It’s beautiful, Sam! Thank you.” She covered her mouth, looking around, “Phew, I thought for sure Mr. Meade heard me.”

“You’re welcome. I’m glad you like it,” I said as I put my head down on my desk with a thunk.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. It’s Alec. Something’s not right, and I wish I knew what it was.”

“Oh, he’s just a guy. Who knows what causes their mano-pausal mood swings.” She laughed.

Heather pulled a chuckle from me, too, half-hearted, but it was better than nothing.

“Sam, that guy is in love with you. Everyone knows it. We can all see it.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” I whispered.

The bell rang, so we made our way to our cars. As we walked by Alec’s truck, we saw Peter standing at the front passenger side.

“Peter!” Heather called as she ran up and hugged him from behind.

He turned around and kissed her.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Just checking out Alec’s truck. I was on my way to my car when I noticed it looked like he’d wrecked it.” He looked up at me. “Oh . . . hey, Sam.”

“Wrecked? What? Let me see,” I shrieked.

“There.” He pointed to the front bumper.

I gasped and my hand flew to my mouth as I saw the damage.

“Maybe that’s why he was weird this morning,” Heather said.

“No, well yeah . . . maybe, but he’s been acting weird for a couple weeks.” I groaned.

“Ah Sam, don’t worry about it. He probably just slept like shit,” Peter said as he took Heather’s bag. “We gotta get going. See ya around.”

“How can I not worry?” I murmured.

“It’ll be okay. Remember . . . he loves you. I’ll call ya later.”

“Okay, bye guys.” I waved.

I stood there, staring at the mangled metal. I decided to wait for Alec to come out. As the minutes passed, I was torn between being worried and angry. Finally, he walked out to his truck. The grim set of his mouth made me momentarily consider letting the issue go, but I had to make sure he was all right.

“Alec, are you okay? What happened to your truck?”

“I’m fine. I’ll get it fixed. Don’t worry about it.”

My jaw hung open as I looked at him, not quite sure I knew who was talking to me anymore.

“Of course I’m gonna worry! You were late for school . . . again. Clearly, you were involved in a car accident. One minute you won’t talk to me, and the next you’re taking me on hot air balloon rides. Just tell me what’s going on, please.”

He ran his hands through his hair and sighed. “I’m sorry. Yes, I ran into a road barricade this morning. But I’m fine. It’s just a little damage to my truck. That’s why I was late.” He pulled me to him and wrapped his arms around me. My shoulders relaxed as he leaned down and kissed me softly. “Love you always.”

“I love you, too.”

I’d never had a girlfriend longer than a few months, let alone over a year. It was nearing Christmas, and we were almost half through our senior year. Classes were good, especially the ones I had with Samone. School was easy for me. Sometimes it was too easy, and my mind would drift back to when I lived in Florida. It would always dwell on the worst day of my life.

At least in the classes we had together, she would pick up on my mood change and distract me from my own personal hell. The way her soft, rose-colored lips would turn up in a smile, and the look of love in her eyes affected me in those dark moments, was a miracle in and of itself.

I left to pick up Samone for a hike at Sweetwater Creek State Park. My truck ran a little rough, so I knew it was time for a tune-up. I didn’t mind though. I loved working on my truck. It reminded me of when Dad taught Emjay and me about engines, and we started working on his Camaro together. That was a fun project with good memories, it meant the world to me, especially now. I made a mental note to take some time tomorrow morning and give it a good look over and an oil change.

Pulling into Samone’s driveway, I saw her sitting on the front porch swing. The way her face lit up when she saw my truck made me smile. It made me feel like an asshole, too. She was right. Something was wrong. I just couldn’t talk to her about it yet.

She was amazing and the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen. She had the kindest heart and was extremely smart. Her level of creativity was remarkable. I had no doubt she could sell the jewelry she’d made.

I was glad we’d run into each other at the charity event. I’m not sure why, but I had to talk to her that day. I had to know her. Now I did, and my feelings for her were unlike anything I’d ever felt before. I could see us together for a long time, maybe even forever if we were lucky. I knew a good thing when I saw it, and Samone Lang was definitely that.