Free Falling (SAMPLE ONLY)

Free Falling - Chapter 2

Copyright © 2011 Kirsty Moseley

                                                      Chapter 2

I dressed in my usual casual attire of jeans and a plain fitted T-shirt, scraping my long brown hair back into a ponytail, the same as every other day. As usual, I didn’t bother with any make-up. I wasn’t exactly a girlie girl so things like that didn’t happen in my normal dressing routine. I skipped back down the stairs and stopped when I heard Luke’s voice in the kitchen. He was talking to my dad.

“Clay, it’s only camping, we’ve been before and you didn’t mind,” he stated.

I heard a heavy sigh. “Yeah, but Alex went then too, and other friends. All I’m saying is that you’d better take care of her. I don’t like the idea of you two being alone together all night, but I guess I need to accept that she’s an adult now.” Dad’s voice was a little gruff as he spoke.

“Honestly, you don’t have anything to worry about. I’ll always take care of her,” Luke answered. He sounded extremely exasperated so I wondered how long my dad had been grilling him for. I hadn’t heard him arrive so for all I knew he could have been subjected to the inquisition the whole time I was showering and dressing for school. Luke certainly put up with a lot from my dad, but other than the occasional threats and stuff they got on great. 

“Look, it’s just that you two are moving on so fast, what with the whole applying for the same colleges thing… I just don’t want any mistakes to mess up your futures. You understand what I’m saying?”

“Yeah, of course. Maisie and I are always really responsible like that,” Luke replied easily, as if talking to my dad about our sex life wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. “I know we’re young but you knew you were in love at our age, you and Riley were already married by the time you were our age.”

“Riley and I are different, I’d known her my whole life,” my dad countered defensively.

“And I’ve known Maisie since we were thirteen.”

I decided it was time to put an end to this conversation before my dad started getting annoyed or anything. He honestly did like Luke, but he just hated the thought of his little girl growing up. He never seemed to mind Alex going to parties or hooking up with girls all the time, but a serious boyfriend for his little girl was something entirely different.

I cleared my throat as I walked around the corner, gaining their attention immediately. “I’m ready to go whenever you’re done with this little man-to-man chat,” I joked, waving my hand between the two of them.

Luke smirked at me and my dad grinned sheepishly, like he’d been caught in the act. “I was just telling Luke about the potential bear threat for Saturday night. Maybe you should just stay home to be on the safe side?” Dad suggested, laughing quietly.

I shrugged. “We’ll take anti bear spray,” I joked, playing along.

Luke laughed and stood up from the stool he was perched on, coming over and draping his arm across my shoulders. “Happy birthday,” he whispered, kissing the side of my head as he held up a bunch of daisies. That was his flower of choice for me. He always bought them because when we first started dating I’d joked and told him they were my favourite because they rhymed with my name. He’d since learned that they weren’t my favourites, but it kind of stuck, so daisies were his thing now.

I smiled gratefully and pressed against him, my stomach fluttering because of his presence. Gripping the front of his grey hoodie, I pulled him closer to me and pressed my lips against his. Almost instantly a loud, dramatic throat clearing came from my dad’s direction, so I pulled back and shot him a glare. Clearly it was alright for him to make out with my mom all the time, but I wasn’t even allowed to kiss my boyfriend hello on my birthday.