“Yeah, she’s not thrilled that I’m taking the summer off this year.” Josh shrugged. “She’ll get over it.” He loaded his luggage into the car with some help from me and Kellan. He then gave us quick one-armed hugs, and with a simple “See you later,” he was gone.
Kellan’s departure was much more subdued. His ride was a nondescript black car driven by a bald man I didn’t recognize. I’d never been super clear on what his parents did, but he hadn’t been lying about them being rich. They always sent drivers to pick him up instead of coming themselves. I didn’t even know which parent he spent most of his time with. I made a mental note to ask more questions about my friends while the driver loaded Kellan’s luggage. He gave me a big bear hug before getting in and leaving as well.
Grey finished up with his friends as Kellan’s car disappeared from view.
He approached me with a grin. “You know,” he said. “The guys reminded me that I hadn’t bugged you yet to come to a few of our shows over the summer.”
“I think I might be busy with things,” I said.
Grey narrowed his eyes at me. “I haven’t told you any dates yet.”
“Oh, well.” I wrapped my arms around him, pulling him in close. “I still think I’m busy.”
“There must be something I can do to convince you to clear your schedule.” Grey’s eyes simmered with desire that was decidedly not appropriate for our current setting.
Our faces were as close to touching as they could be without kissing. My eyes kept flicking down to his mouth, and my mind went blank, unable to focus on anything else at the moment.
“I might be able to come up with a thing or two,” I said, then I closed the short distance between us. I released a soft whimper, suddenly hating the fact that we were on a crowded street with hundreds of people around us. The weekend we’d had to ourselves hadn’t been enough. I needed Grey alone with me forever.
Someone pointedly cleared their throat, and I pulled away from Grey to see that my parents had arrived in their usual fashion—together and peeved with each other—and they’d gotten out of the car to greet me. I hadn’t thought we’d been kissing for that long, but I realized the way my body draped over Grey’s wasnotappropriate for company. Especially if that company consisted of my parents.
“Uh, hi, Mom, Dad,” I said, flustered as I peeled myself away from my boyfriend and straightened myself out. “This is Grey.”
“The boy you mentioned over Christmas break.” Mom’s look reminded me unnervingly of a cat about to devour its food.
“You mentioned me?” Grey asked, pulling away. He reached out to shake my parents’ hands. “It’s nice to meet you both.”
“Oh, trust me, the pleasure is all ours,” Dad said. “It seems you’ve turned our son into a bit of a romantic.”
“Yes, the poor boy wouldn’t so much as hold the hand of someone in front of us before,” Mom said. “He said we embarrassed him.”
“Youdoembarrass me,” I said through gritted teeth, my ears burning. I had to give it to my parents. It only took them two sentences to get completely under my skin.
“Well, if that’s the most trauma we’ve given you, then I consider it a job well done,” Dad said cheerfully and grabbed my luggage from the curb.
“Will we be seeing you around our house sometime, Grey?” The fact that Mom wasn’t critiquing Dad’s loading skills said a lot about how fascinating she found Grey. “Assuming that our embarrassing tendencies can be overlooked.”
Grey laughed, clearly finding entertainment in my discomfort. “I’ll do my best to drop by this summer. My band is touring, and the schedule isn’t quite finalized yet, so I’m not—”
“Oh, that’sright. You’re in a band.” Mom had the over performative tone someone gave when their memory was very much not being jogged by the conversation. “How is that going, by the way?”
“Great!” I jumped in. “He has some big shows this summer, and there’s a potential record deal.”
It was Grey’s turn to flush. “He makes it sound more impressive than it is. Everything is still very fluid at the moment.”
Car horns blared as impatient parents none-too-gently reminded us that parking for student pickup had a five-minute time limit.
Mom sighed. “Guess we better be going.” She was clearly disappointed she hadn’t gotten to chat more with Grey.
For once, I was thankful for a stranger’s impatience.
“It was nice to meet you, Grey,” Mom said.
My parents loaded into the car, tactfully giving me a few last moments with my boyfriend.
“You better call me this summer.” I poked him playfully to show how serious I was. “I can’t handle you going radio silent on me like Christmas break.” No, I would never let him live those few days down.
Grey chuckled and grabbed my hand, pressing it into a palm against his chest. I could feel his heart beating under my palm, and somehow, mine slowed to match his.
