Dear Celia

VI

“Do you even think anyone’s home?” Celia asked as we knocked for the umpteenth time on Auntie Marie and Uncle Jed’s house. 

“They don’t really have anywhere else to go,” I said, Auntie Marie and Uncle Jed were both in their late 50s and retired. “Except maybe Auntie Marie could have gone out to buy groceries, but Uncle Jed’s always home.”

Celia just shrugged, and knocked again.

The door flew open and Uncle Jed stood there, holding Sewing for Dummies in his right hand and Job Hunting for Dummies in his left.

“Lucas,” he said, surprised. “What are you doing here?”

“Um,” I said. “We just wanted to pop in for some of Auntie Marie’s cookies.”

“You and your girlfriend?” Uncle Jed said, nodding at Celia.

I heard Celia giggle, and I flushed deep red. “N-no, Uncle Jed. This is Celia. She’s come over quite a few times…”

Uncle Jed squinted at her, then recognition flooded over his face. “Oh right! The Hawkins girl! Sorry kids, I seemed to have forgotten my glasses…”

I blinked. “You’re wearing your glasses, Uncle Jed.”

He stared at me blankly, then his eyes widened. “Oh that’s right again, Lucas.” He stepped aside. “Come on in, kids.”

Celia and I exchanged a look as we shuffled into the house, but the incident was soon forgotten when we managed to eat all 24 of Auntie Marie’s chocolate chip cookies. She was shocked when she walked downstairs and found us picking crumbs out of the container, and quickly set off to make more.

Celia sighed. “I better get home,” she said.

“Yeah,” I agreed absently, rubbing my stomach. I was scared that if I stood up too fast, the cookies would as well.

But my plan was wasted when Auntie Marie yelled, “LUCAS WILL WALK YOU, DEAR.”

…

As we walked through town, I began to wonder how much my life had changed in the past three months. Before, I had been lonely, dull, and bored. I never ventured into town, or even went swimming. But now that Celia was my friend, I felt like life seemed to be taking a turn for the better.

“Holy shit,” Celia suddenly muttered, irritation clearly evident in her voice as she turned her head so her face was almost pressed against my shoulder.

“What?” I said, peering above her head to see what she was attempting to hide from.

“That guy over there keeps winking at me and it’s disgusting,” she explained, gesturing to a boy a few years older than us. He stood with his back against a wall. He wore a tight muscle shirt, sunglasses dangling from his collar, and pants so low I was scared for him.

“Why’s that so bad?” I wondered. Being homeschooled for my whole teenaged life meant I had no clue how “good” guys were supposed to be like and how “bad” guys were supposed to be like. Girls were confusing as it was, and before Celia I had never known there were different types of guys too. I wondered how she knew, since she was homeschooled in the middle of nowhere like me.

“Because he’s obviously a douchebag,” Celia explained in a low voice. She winced. “He’s coming over.”

I watched as the boy sauntered over towards us. He walked weirdly, I noted, with his upper body leaned back and his feet sauntering slowly like he expected everyone else to move for him.

“Hey,” he said to Celia, flashing her a perfect white smile.

“Hi,” Celia said, clearly annoyed and uninterested.

“You from around here?” he asked.

“Kind of,” Celia replied.

The boy leaned even more forward. I could smell the mint of his breath, and could only imagine how much mint Celia was drowning in at the moment.

“You live on one of those farms?” he questioned, nodding towards the emptiness the lay outside of Forge.

“Why do you care?” Celia retorted, taking a step back and closer to me.

“Just wondering if you live on chicken farm, because you sure know how to raise a cock.” The guy smirked in a way I assumed was supposed to be attractive to girls.

Celia gagged, and suddenly wrapped her arms around my waist. “Lucas, this guy’s disgusting,” she breathed into my ear.

“What?”

“Just go with it.” She pressed even closer against me, interlacing her fingers with mine.

The guy raised his eyebrows, no longer amused by his own joke.

“Baby, let’s go,” Celia said to me.

“Uh…”

“Baby, let’s go.”

“Yeah… yeah!” I quickly said, putting my arm around her shoulders and holding her close. “Let’s, um, go.” My cheeks felt hot, and I hope Celia couldn’t feel how hard my heart was pounding.

The guy cleared his throat and stepped in front of us. He looked at Celia. “You, uh, you and your brother got this thing going on or…?”

Celia raised her eyebrows. “You mean my boyfriend?”

I almost choked on my own spit, but aggressively swallowed it instead.

“Your boyfriend?” he said skeptically.

Celia sighed, then went on her tiptoes and kissed me.

Right on the lips.

It was over before it began, but my body was tingling with emotion and surprised. Celia just kissed me.

How was I supposed to even feel about this?

I hope I don’t look too obvious.

The guy stepped back. “Oh shit, dud, sorry man. I didn’t know she was your girl.”

“It’s uh…” I searched my mind for what to say. What words did normal teenage guys use anyways? “It’s all chill… dog...”

The guy raised his eyebrows, but began to walk away. “Yeah, man.”

When he was gone, Celia stepped away from me. I found myself aching for her to pressed against my side for longer. “Well, that was tiring.”

I swallowed. “Um, yeah.”

Celia began to walk again, and I scrambled to catch up with her. All I could think of was her lips on mine…

She wiped a piece of hair from her forehead and tucked it behind her ear. “I haven’t dealt with guys like him in a long time.”

I subconsciously touched a finger to my lips, and then pulled it away before Celia would notice. “You mean you’ve been in that situation before?”

Celia nodded. “Oh, yeah. Of course, you weren’t there to save the day.”

“Weren’t you like, homeschooled? On a farm?”

Celia smiled at me. “No. I actually went to a real school when I was a freshman. How do you think I knew I hated big cities and wanted to be homeschooled?”

It made sense now, Celia’s knowledge of a world I thought she had never lived in. “Oh,” was all I said. The only thing on my mind was Celia against me, and her mouth on mine. Of course Celia would have guys hit on her even when she was 14. Celia was beautiful, but I just assumed you weren’t supposed to think of your friends that way and never really tried to notice it.

But that kiss; it changed things.