After Oliver's last soccer game, I drove him out for ice cream with his team and his coaches. Nick sat with the coach of them at the front of the ice cream shop while the parents and siblings sat in the back, away from the team, careful not to disturbed them.
Mom and dad had their phone out, taking pictures of Oliver drinking his shake with his teammates. One of them that he was sitting next to was Leo, who had invited him to his birthday party next weekend. It was going to be Oliver's first birthday party without mom and dad with him because it a sleepover. Plus, Oliver said that he wanted me to stay with him for an hour or two then leave him and I would pick him up the next morning around two in the afternoon.
He was growing up. And so was I.
I was going to graduate this month along with Jace, Alice, Nick, Laura, Lily, and Evan; we are all a little nervous and grateful that we mind it through high school and our crazy social life. Alice and Jace ended up getting back together after slowly becoming friends again. Lily and Nick were going to try the long distance relationship while she was on the movie sets and he was stuck here with the Dallas Morning News. Laura swore off boys and decided that community college was the best way to go while she worked at a clothing brand store while she also attended school (she never had a boyfriend through high school, but there was the occasional kiss or two but other than that, she had no serious relationship).
Evan and I started to have a date night every week and he hung out with my parents as well as Oliver. He even came to his soccer games to cheer him on. The nights where I stayed up late with Whales and the rest of the yearbook staff, Evan went over my house and tucked him in. During the weekdays after Oliver came home from his day care, Evan came over and managed to get Oliver to run with him around the neighborhood.
Some days, I could not get Oliver to shut up about Evan and how awesome he was.
I looked away from Oliver and Leo and focused my attention on Evan. He smiled down at me and leaned down to kiss my cheek. "What are you thinking about?" he asked me as he pulled back.
Shrugging my shoulders, I said, "Nothing." I put my shake's straw in my mouth and started to sip it.
Finally, mom and dad stopped taking pictures of Oliver and put their phones away. "Autumn," I turned away from Evan and looked at mom. "Would you be okay being in the house alone this weekend? When Oliver is at his sleepover, we would like to spend the night-"
I cringed, "Please stop." I glanced between them both. "Alice will be in the house wouldn't she? I won't be totally alone."
Dad shook his head. "Her parents are back in town and Alice is going to tell them about Packard and that she wants to stay living with us until her parents are fully back from Europe. Alice doesn't believe that she can go back to her house and not fall back into old habits, and it's better if it doesn't try to tempt her."
"Oh." Alice had not told me anything about her parents being back in town.
"And in the morning, she and Jace are going to eat at IHOP for breakfast," mom explained to me. "So you will be alone in the house."
I waved my hand in the air, "I'll be fine with that."
Mom and dad smiled secretly at each other and it made me want to puke, but at least they were in love with each other after sixteen years of knowing each other. The look of love was in both of their eyes and it made me happy that I could know that people in my life were in love.
Jace and Alice were together, but no one knew if either of them were going to slip back into their old ways. Jace was never that bad at the whole drug thing but Alice was hell at it.
Lily and Nick were amazing at being a couple, but there was the long distance relationship approaching. I want to wish them luck but there is a lot of hot guys in the movie business. Both Lily and Nick were committed in their relationship towards each other but the people in the outside world did not know that.
Laura swore off guys, but there is another type that she could like- girls.
Evan and I... I never liked to analyze him and me. I knew that I would think to much into things and end up breaking up with him, and I definitely did not want to do that. Evan is my first boyfriend, and from how things are going, my first love.
I felt something on my thigh, and I looked down at Evan's hand on it, squeezing it for comfort. I took his hand off of my thigh and entangled our hands together. No, I did not dislike his touch on me, I just did not want my parents to see his hand on me. They have seen us cuddle on the couch and kiss, but I was not comfortable enough for them to see his hand on my thigh.
I focused my attention back on Oliver and his coach starting to give out the trophies that were 'participation' awards. His coach would call out the names and Nick would hand out the trophies to the players.
When Leo's name was called, Oliver called the loudest and when Oliver's name was called, Leo called the loudest. Mom and dad were too busy taking pictures of the moment and I only had one hand to clap with. I was not taking pictures because my parents had it covered and I had forgotten to delete the pictures that I took for the Dallas Morning News off of my camera and the SD card was full.
We stayed a little after the award ceremony so Oliver could spend more time with his teammates. The parents of the other teammates came over and asked if Oliver was going to be signing up for soccer during the next season.
"Maybe," dad stated. "He really liked playing soccer, but who knows with his asthma. It didn't seem to affect him that much while he played, so he might be able to play next season." After he explained his situation once, and more parents came over to ask the same question, his response became maybe.
As soon as Oliver finished his shake, he ran over to Evan. "Hey, Evan," Oliver began, "can you race against me and my team? I told them about you and how you went to State for running and they all want to see if they could beat you." He put his hands on the table in front of me and clasp them together. "Pretty please, with a cherry on top."
Evan was in the corner of the booth and I was on the outside, blocking his way out. I focused my attention on Evan, who was still holding my hand underneath the table, rested his other hand on his face and turned his gaze towards the ceiling, thinking.
"Please, this will earn me cool points if you race against them," Oliver continued.
I laughed at Oliver trying to fit in with his friends; he was already cool enough without needing Evan's help. But, since Evan was my boyfriend and Oliver was my little brother, I felt obliged to help him out.
I nudged his shoulder, "It would help Oliver earn some cool points."
Evan laughed lightheartedly at me. "Fine, Oliver, I will race your teammates."
Oliver's face turned into a smile as he heard the news. He immediately walked over to his teammates and told them the good news. While he was talking to them, I exited the booth and brought Evan with me. As they team started to head outside into the deserted parking lot, Evan dragged me outside, telling me that I was going to be his good luck charm. Of course, the parents came along as well to watch over the children to make sure that they were not running out into the middle of the street.
Evan set the boundaries of the race, "Autumn's car is the beginning of the race, and we are going to run around the building once, then the race will end at her car."
The children started to line in parallel to my car.
Before Evan lined up with them, he said, "I need a good luck kiss before I start." I raised my eyebrows up at him as he leaned down to kiss me and I pulled back, not wanting to kiss him in front of my brother and the other parents. "Please," he whispered. I rolled my eyes at him and pecked his lips. "There we go, now I'm good to go." He stood next to Oliver and positioned himself for the beginning of the race.
I walked over until I was a good fifteen feet away from the racers. "When I say GO, start running," I glanced around at the group of people that are going to race against Evan. He had some tough competition. "Ready, set," I trailed off. "GO!"
From the start, all the boys start to sprint and gain a lead in front of Evan, but Evan quickly caught up to them as they made their first turn around the ice cream building. Since the boys starting out sprinting, they ran out of energy as soon as they began.
Evan quickly finished the loop in under thirty seconds while the other boys took forty-five seconds. When they finished, all the boys fell on the ground, in pain from running too fast. Evan jogged up to me and hugged me from behind, kissing me on my forehead.
"How did I do, Fall?" he whispered in my ear.
I thought about it for a moment, turning around in his arms. "Um," I wrapped my arms around his neck, "I think that you did OK." He rolled his eyes at me. "I mean, you did beat fifteen little guys, so I wouldn't take that as an accomplishment in life." I leaned forward, laughing to myself, and rested my forehead on his.
In the background, I heard someone say, "Yuck!"
I stayed where I was while Evan turned his head towards the sound. I felt Evan laugh at the source of the sound and pecked my lips in spite of the source. I let go of him and looked at my little brother, who hade made the disgusting noise. I rolled my eyes at me but Evan kneeled down to his level and started to speak to him.
"You know," he began, "when you are our age, you are going to appreciate kissing your girlfriend or boyfriend. It's easy finding someone who cares about you but it's hard to keep them and make them happy."
Oliver looked up at Evan. "You make my sister happy?"
Evan grinned at his response, "Haven't you seen Autumn smiling more often? Laughing more often?" Oliver nodded. "That is not only because of me, that is also because of you, and together we make her happy. Do you remember a time when she wasn't happy?"
Oliver nodded, "When she was out late with Alice before she was good and before we meet you and when I was sick."
"See," Evan explained.
"Do you two love each other like mom and dad? Is that why you two kiss so much?" I nodded as well did Evan. "Do you treat her like a princess, because that is how loved girls are supposed to be treated?" Evan nodded again. "Ok, I approve of you."
He raised an eyebrow, "You didn't before?"
"I didn't know that you loved my sister before."
* * * * *
Nick was also at the birthday party, watching over his brother before he left for the night. It made me content that there was someone else in the house that I could talk to that was not twice my age. When he saw me enter through the door, he immediately walked up to me and asked if I was going to stay for a little while before leaving. His shoulders slumped in relief when he heard the word yes slip out of my mouth.
"I'm going to attend community college to get the basics done," he explained as we watched our brothers play twister, "then, reapply to Packard and hopefully get in so I get my major in journalism completed. And I have a job at the Dallas Morning News while I'm getting my degree so I won't go broke. What about you? Lily told me that you are going to defer for a year, but then Alice and Laura tell me that you aren't going to attend college at all."
I shrugged my shoulders. "College doesn't seem like it's for me. I mean, Packard accepted me but I don't want to attend and then leave with thousands of dollars in debt. That doesn't make sense. And what am I going to major in? Photography? I already know almost everything about that and nothing else in school interests me."
"Journalism?" Nick tried.
"No, that doesn't interest me that much. I write but I write so I don't fail yearbook."
"Whales would never fail you."
"You don't know that," I told him. "My parents don't know about the college thing yet. I got them on board to deferring for a year with a job; and maybe, after they see me being serious with my job, they might allow me to not go to college."
He furrowed his eyebrows, "Didn't your parents go to Oxford are something like that?" I nodded. Nick's eyes widened at my information, "And you think that they will agree to you not going to college? What about your future children? When they ask what was college like, what are you going to tell them? A couple of my friends have parents that never went to college and they are ashamed of their parents because of that, they don't like to talk to about it." He continued to ramble.
"Nick," I stated and he stopped talking. "I think that when my future children apply for colleges, and they find out that their mother never went to college, they will get more scholarships because I didn't go to college. And my husband, whoever who that is, would support my life choices because if he doesn't support me, then why am I married to him?"
"What does Evan think of this?"
I swallowed the lump in my throat when I heard his name. "He doesn't know."
"Autumn," Nick sighed, "when are you going to tell him? He loves you, you know that right?"
I nodded. "When the time comes to apply to colleges again, I'll think it over, but until then, all I know is that I am not going to college for a year."
I glanced up at the clock in the living room and back at Oliver, who was waving for me to go away. "I think that that is my cue to leave," I turned to say goodbye to Nick. "I wish you luck at the Dallas Morning News," I said to him as I hugged him.
"Bye Autumn."
I exited the house headed towards my car and entered into the drivers' seat. Before I turned the engine on, I texted Evan that I was now heading home. My parents knew that Evan was going to come over, even if I did not tell them implicitly, it was implied. They trusted Evan and I enough to be mature and responsible teenagers, but I think that they trusted us too much.
When I made it home, I turned off the car and headed inside, turning off the house alarm. When the alarm stopped making noise, I went upstairs. I opened the door to my bedroom and saw Evan lying on my bed, reading a book.
"Hey Fall," he said when I walked in, not looking up from his book.
I walked over to him, I grabbed the book from him, looking at the cover, The Great Gatsby. "Do you mind if I read to you?" Evan shook his head and told me where he stopped reading and I started off at the beginning of his sentence. "His heart beat faster and faster as Daisy's white face came up to his own..."
As I was reading to him, he maneuvered himself so he was on his back with his head on a pillow. I continued to read as I moved so I was lying on my side, facing Evan and I was resting my elbow so I could read the book the book comfortably. He smiled up at me and closed his eyes as I read.
About an hour later, I finished reading the book and looked at Evan to see if he was asleep.
"I'm not," he said tiredly. "Just thinking over here."
I closed the book and set it on the counter next to the bed, then rested my body fully on the bed. I felt tired but I felt Evan pull me onto him. My chest was pressed against his. My eyes were almost closed but I looked at his lips. They were amazing full. Evan nudged his nose against mine and our lips sleepily meet each other. My eyes closed and I felt his lips touch mine.
I brought my fingers up to his hair, feeling the softness of it. I felt his fingers reach for my waist and squeeze it gently. Getting the hint, I set up and took Evan with me. We continued to kiss, but our hands explored the other's clothes and I found the bottom of his shirt, tugging on it. I felt him smile into the kiss and he pulled away to take it off.
I stared at his chest for a moment. I have seen Evan without his shirt before, but never this intimate, never in a situation where I knew where this was going. He was never too muscular but his flat chest and the muscles that he did have suited him. He leaned forward and kissed me again.
"Autumn," he whispered into my lips. His fingers threaded into my hair as he kissed me. It isn't frantic, we were exploring each other.
I felt the sensations of everything that I felt when I was usually with Evan but it had multiplied to where every little breath that he took, I heard. He pulled away and rested his forehead on mine, catching his breath. I felt his fingers wander under my shirt and trail upwards on my back. He pulled on my bra a little, then rested his hands on the bottom of my back.
My hands went to the bottom of my shirt and I looked into his eyes as I raised my shirt above my above my head then tossing it on the floor somewhere. Evan's eyes stayed connecting to mine until his flickered down to my bra then back up at me. I smiled at him and tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear.
I fell backward onto the bed and Evan followed after me. His mouth murmured something against my neck as his lips traced my shoulder then meet my mouth again before pulling away. He brushed his finger against my cheek lightly, making me shiver.
"If you want to stop, tell me," he whispered. I licked my lips and stared up at him, saying nothing. "Are you-"
I reached up and pulled him down onto me, kissing me. Evan wrapped his arms around my waist tightly, not letting me go.