Summer's Last Breath

Part 26

The pink-haired girl followed him, and for a split second I was terrified that Sol would take the spot Cree had vacated.

"Erin." Sol inclined his head, surprising me by knowing my name. He kept those obsidian eyes on me, and unlike Cree's smile, there wasn't anything friendly about Sol's smirk. I shivered as he walked past before he ambled down the stairs off the back of the porch that emptied onto the beach.

"Later." Cree saluted offhandedly and followed Sol, jogging to catch up.

"Ignore Sol." The pinked-haired girl slipped onto the bench beside Jamie, close enough their shoulders touched. "He's like a shark. If you don't act scared he'll get bored and move on."

She reached into Jamie's basket and swiped a hushpuppy and I noticed he didn't slap her hand away the way he had Cree's.

"I'm Quinn," she said, looking at me as she took a bite of the hushpuppy.

"Erin." I wondered if I should stick my hand out. In the end, it stayed in my lap. "Nice to meet you."

"You too." She sat forward, eyeing me clinically. "You're really pretty."

"Thank you."

"You eighteen yet?"

"Not yet," I said as though the day I turned eighteen were imminent and not a year and half away.

"Too bad. I need a model for a fashion design class I'm taking, but they have to be eighteen. You would have been perfect."

"Thanks, I guess."

"Orders up, Quinn!" Joe yelled from behind the bar, holding up a Styrofoam to-go box.

Quinn slapped the table with both hands then leaned over and pecked Jamie's cheek. "Got to get back to work."

She walked over to the bar and picked up her order, turning to Jamie on her way out. "Tell Noah we're getting together at the Res this weekend. You can come too." With a toss of her hair she was gone, and I found myself smiling after her.

"She's nice," I said, taking an instant like to her. "And pretty."

Stunning was more like it.

Jamie shrugged neither agreeing or disagreeing.

"Old girlfriend?" I hoped I sounded only mildly curious and not jealous, which I wasn't.

"First kiss," Jamie said around a smile. "We were probably ten."

"What did she mean when she said they were going to be hanging at the Res?"

"Inside joke. The Reservation is a piece of Gulf-front property the size of a postage stamp some government agency provided us as a private playground." His words dripped with sarcasm. "Where we're free to be ourselves without drawing the ire of the locals or scaring the tourists."

"You're joking, right?"

"I wish I were. Gathering in large groups? Not encouraged."

"I'm sorry." I didn't understand much of their situation. The plight of their species was a conversation that never seemed to come up, as though no one wanted to credit their existence. Prejudice and discrimination couldn't exist if they didn't exist.

"It's the way it is. You'd think we weren't here first." Jamie threw his napkin on the table as if he were throwing in the towel. "You ready to get out of here?"

As was becoming our habit, we ended up on the beach after we ate. The nights were getting colder, so tonight I was bundled in a hoodie, huddling as close to Jamie's warmth as I could get. Wearing a short-sleeved t-shirt, he seemed impervious to the temperature, and we'd yet to spread out the blanket he'd brought. His lap suited me just fine.

Now that my dad had given us his blessing, Jamie had established a list of rules for when we were together, the most annoying of which was our clothes remained on our bodies. He wouldn't even let me run my hands under his shirt, like I was trying to do now. He immediately stopped my exploring fingers, wrapping them tightly in his hand and slipping my arm back around his neck. His kiss deepened and he was clearly as frustrated by his own stupid rules as much as I was. But I understood them. He insisted on not taking advantage of the trust my dad had put in him by allowing him to see me. Jamie talked a lot about respect, for me and for my dad, and while it was sweet and chivalrous, it was also frustrating as hell.

"Well, it's not going to stay winter forever. What will you do when it's summer and we're at the beach and I'm wearing my bikini."

He closed his eyes tight and swallowed. "Gouge my eyes out."

I rolled over on my side, propping my head on my elbow. "Don't do that. I love your eyes." I loved his hair. I could stare at his lips forever. And I told him that too. My fingers persisted in their attempt to examine the ridges and indentions under his cotton shirt. I loved those too. Nothing was smoother than Jamie's skin.

"I'm feeling a little objectified here," he said with a slight hiss, catching my hand in his once again before it could sneak farther up his chest.

"I love other things," I said, feeling a little foolish but unable to stop myself. "I love the way you are with Noah. I love the way that when I threw myself at you, you tried to do the right thing."

"'Tried' being the operative word."

"Well, I didn't make it easy for you. I'm sorry for that."

"Don't be sorry. I wouldn't want you to be any other way."

"Me either," I leaned over, nibbling on his earlobe, lips trailing to his jaw. "I love you, Jamie. I think we should have sex."

His fingers cinched around mine and his body went completely rigid.

"Erin," he said, clearing his throat, his eyes falling closed on a long exhale.

"What?" I lifted my head to look into his face. "You don't want to?"

"It's not that I don't want to or haven't thought about it. That would be an affirmative on both counts." He brushed a lock of hair off my cheek, his expression as tender as any I'd ever seen. "But you're sixteen."

"Would you quit throwing my age in my face? Either you're comfortable being with me or you're not. Besides, I'm way closer to seventeen now." Feeling defiant and more than a little rejected, I pulled my hoodie over my head and tossed it aside.

"Erin," he started to protest.

My t-shirt came next. I had on a bra and it wasn't overtly sexy. Jamie had seen me in less, but he still sucked in his breath. His eyes stayed open, which was encouraging. "If I were any of the other girls you've been with would you still be this obstinate?"

"That's just it." He sat up, fixing my legs on either side of his thighs so I was straddling his lap. His hands rose from my hips and cupped the back of my head. "You're not any girl I've been with. As far as I'm concerned, there are no other girls anymore."

"I feel the same way. You love me don't you?" He'd never said it, but he didn't need to. His actions spoke louder than any words he could say.

"Yes."

"Then that makes this perfect." I leaned in for another kiss. We'd been at it for hours. His lips, the taste of him, never got old. But I wanted more. "Be my first, Jamie."

"I think you're trying to kill me." He rested his forehead to mine.

"Think about it." I kissed him, catching his moan on my tongue. "Please."