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It was early afternoon on a Saturday, and my mom’s place was just a few blocks from the bus stop. The residential area of Ashford was a semicircle around the main street. Mom’s place was just at the edge of one end of it, one house over from being on the main road that ran through the center of town. I pulled the duffel up onto my shoulder and started walking, passing Dina’s to my right and rounding the street by the fire station.
There was a tiny shopping center there, not quite big enough to be called a strip mall. Inside was a little bakery that ran cooking classes, a hardware shop, and a liquor store. On the other side, facing toward the street, was a tiny pharmacy and the only chain fast-food place in Ashford. I stopped there to grab a burger and some fries as I walked home and on my way out, ran into the most unlikely of people.
Dee was heading toward the restaurant as I was walking out, and our eyes met across the parking lot. I thought she might ignore me, much like I felt like she had all the end of the year before, but instead, her mouth opened wide with a big smile, and her eyes sparkled. I had almost forgotten how big and brown those eyes were. They were like a drop of coffee in a sea of white, and I could lose myself staring into them.
“Hey,” I said. “Long time, no see.”
“Hawk, hi,” she said, pulling at the sleeves of her sweater so they came down over her palms.
“How are you?”
“I’m good.” Color streaked across her neck. She was clearly excited. Maybe nervous. All good signs. “Just grabbing something for lunch. How about you?”
“Just got in off the bus,” I said. “Came home to visit for the weekend.”
“Cool,” she said.
“Where’s Greg?” I asked, feigning looking around. Even if he was there, I didn’t really want to see him.
“Oh, we’re not together,” she said quickly.
“Oh. You’re single?”
“Yup.” She was wearing lipstick, and the way it glistened off the sunlight made me want to toss the fries and spend my afternoon tasting her instead.
“Me too,” I said.
“Oh,” she said.
“Yeah.”
There was a beat of silence as we stared at each other, each processing how we just freely gave that information up to the other apropos of nothing.
“I just had my birthday,” she said, suddenly shifting the conversation. “Finally eighteen.”
“Happy birthday.”
Something about her announcing that made my stomach clench and the hair on the back of my neck stand up. It was like she was hinting that she wasn’t the too-young girl I remembered from before. She was an adult now. An adult with a figure that had filled out, and the tight blue jeans she was wearing only accentuated that statement, making her figure look like an hourglass with a tight sweater on.
“Thank you,” she said. “Senior year and all. It’s crazy.”
“I remember,” I said. “Lots of stress.”
“So much,” she said.
Our eyes hadn’t left each other, and I knew there was no fighting it. I had a couple of days in Ashford. I was going to make them count.
“You know, it’s important to relieve that stress occasionally,” I said. “Why don’t I take you out to dinner tonight? We could go up to Sergio’s. I have been dying for a pizza of theirs since I moved.”
“I would like that. Do you want to meet me there?”
“Nah, I have a car at home. I just didn’t want to bring it to Kentucky. I can pick you up. Are you still on Snowhill Road?”
She grinned.
“How do you remember that?”
“You mentioned it in class one time, remember? We were talking about something, and you mentioned you lived over there. I remembered because it’s only a couple blocks from my house.”
“Oh,” she said, smiling. “Yes. Pick me up at eight?”
“See you then,” I said. “It’s a date.”
I barely caught the excited smile cross her face before I turned away. I wanted the moment of looking cool as I just casually mentioned we were going on a date, but inside, I was probably just as excited as she was.
A few hours later, and after visiting with Mom for a bit, I got in the ancient Oldsmobile I had owned since I bought it off Craigslist at sixteen and headed to pick Dee up. Pulling up to the house, I parked the car and got out, wanting to be a gentleman and open the door for her. When she walked out of her house, I nearly groaned audibly.
She was wearing a red dress, with a plunging neckline and a thick black belt. It was like the casual version of her dress from Homecoming. Suddenly, a hundred dreams were rushing back to me, reminding me of all the ideas I had in the midnight hour for what I would do with her if I had the chance.
