"I don't want to do this right now," Harry protested. "I can't."
"You can. You're ready," Bree assured him.
The two teens stood outside of the Washington State Department of Motor Vehicles, looking at the building before them. Bree just wanted to get the written test over with, as it had no real bearing on anything for her, except that her father was requiring the effort as punishment for a speeding ticket. She already possessed a driver's license and was not in any danger of losing it, regardless of what she scored. Harry, on the other hand, was just starting the process of obtaining a license, and for him, the looming weight of failure was almost unbearable.
"What if..." Harry began.
"Harry, the most that can happen is that you fail the test today and you have to come back tomorrow to do it again. Either way, you win. Because if you have to take it again, at least you'll know what to expect and you'll be that much closer to passing it tomorrow." Bree reasoned.
Harry didn't look that convinced as he opened the door to the DMV and followed Bree inside.
Desmond had submitted a signed medical document stating that Harry needed special accommodations for test taking. When he presented the letter, Harry was ushered into a small room with large windows. Inside, he sat in a small cubicle that housed a computer monitor and keyboard. The technician that had led Harry into the room hovered over the computer to ready it for Harry. Since Bree possessed no note for accommodations, she stood at a tall counter and prepared to take her test by hand.
They finished at roughly the same time. Harry took a seat in the waiting area while his score was submitted electronically. Bree stood in line to have her test scored manually by a DMV representative. She could hardly concentrate on the man that was marking her score, because Harry's name had been called. Bree watched his face as lit up.
"Did you pass?" she mouthed to him.
He gave her a nonchalant nod, as if to say, 'of course I did'.
"I'm sorry Miss. You missed one too many this time."
Bree was so busy communicating with Harry that she didn't understand what the gentleman before her was saying.
"What?" she asked him.
"You can only miss eight questions. You missed nine. You just missed it by one point. If you'd like to come back tomorrow, you can try again." He said. His nametag read Gary.
"What happened?" Harry came over to see what was taking Bree so long.
"Um..." Bree looked from Gary to Harry and back to Gary. "Thanks."
"Do you want your test? You can use it to study," Gary offered.
"Study?" Harry asked. Then a look of comprehension came over him. "Did you fail the test?"
"Shut it, Harry," Bree said in a threatening tone.
"You have got to be kidding me." Harry laughed. "That had to be the easiest test I've ever taken."
"They're not all the same," Bree defended herself as she walked away from Gary and headed towards the building's exit.
"This says a lot about the Phoenix driving system," Harry heckled Bree as he followed her to her truck. "You can get a driver's license there, but you can't even pass the written test here."
"Would you hurry up and get this out of your system? I don't want to listen to it all the way home." Bree told him.
"I don't know if I feel comfortable with you driving me home, what with you failing the written test and all. Maybe I should drive," Harry attempted to reach for Bree's keys.
"Oh no you don't. You don't have a driver's license and I do." Bree playfully swatted at him.
The game of keep away continued until Harry had Bree pinned up against the driver side of her truck.
"I can't believe I passed that fuckin' test," he whispered with a sparkle in his eye.
Bree recognized the amazement in his voice. He was no longer teasing her or making a remark at her expense. He was simply astounded by the outcome of his effort.
"I can," Bree whispered. "I'm so proud of you."
Bree reached up to smooth down one of Harry's stray locks as he leaned forward to kiss her. They took no notice of the passersby in the parking lot as they deepened their kisses, celebrating the moment.
"Is your dad home?" Harry whispered with a hint of desperation.
Bree nodded. "I'm surprised he's not out fishing since it's not raining," Bree remarked. "Can we hang out at your house? We always hang out at mine."
"That's because my house is lame. And my mom is always there." Harry rolled his eyes.
"Do you really want to hang out at my house while my dad is there?" Bree asked.
"Good point. But I don't want to stay at my house too long. Total waste of a good Saturday." Harry said as he walked around to the passenger side of the truck.
As they drove towards the Styles home, Bree smiled to herself at the "couple" moment she and Harry had just shared. They had officially been "boyfriend and girlfriend" for only a short period of time, but they'd already experienced a milestone together. As Harry's hand rested softly on Bree's thigh, she silently hoped they would experience many more.
* * *
Tom exhaled in frustration as he sat at his dining room table with Connie. They were pretending to work on a big history project, but really, they were making preparations for their upcoming party. Actually, Connie was making preparations and Tom was trying to get her to scale back a bit.
"Connie, we're not serving dinner." Tom said for the fiftieth time. "There'll be barf all over the place if we do that. And I'm not buying imported beer. It's cheap beer or nothing."
"Tom, this is our first party. Don't you want it to be good?"
"As long as there is music and beer, it'll be good."
"Good music and good beer," Connie corrected.
"People just want a place to hang out. I'm not spending all this money so people can get their kicks. No one ever does that at the parties I go to." Tom complained. "I mean, I wouldn't care if it was just me, you, Harry, Bree-"
"Bree," Connie said as if she remembered something. "Tom, I don't think we can go on a double date with Bree and Harry."
"Why not?" Tom asked. He had been curious to see Harry and Bree together now that they seemed to be in a relationship. It was a side of Harry Tom had never gotten to see and he was dead set on getting as much ammunition as possible with which to tease Harry.
"Because Jocelyn is my best friend and if I start hanging out with Bree...I don't know...it'll just be weird. I mean, I know Jocelyn will feel betrayed and I don't want to do that to her." Connie explained.
"Okay, well Harry is my best friend, so just because Jocelyn has this stalker crush, we can never all hang out?"
"Aarrgg!" Connie buried her face in her hands in anguish. "Why can't Harry just like Jocelyn? My life would be so much better if he did."
"Sounds like high school drama," Nate said as he made his presence in the archway of the dining room known.
Connie had gotten Tom's brother Nate to agree not to crash their party with his friends, in exchange for a party the following night, with Tom and Connie providing the clean-up duty.
"Guys never have these kinds of problems," Nate went on.
"So if your best friend liked a girl but she was with another guy, you'd hang out with her and the other guy?" Connie asked.
"You make it sound all 'Dawson's Creek'," Nate waved his hands in the air as he mocked Connie. "It's not that big a deal. If I wanted to do something with a friend and he had his girl along, as long as we were having a good time I could care less." And then Nate added, "and if my friend was some punk bitch who whined about who I spent time with then I'd find a new friend."
Connie rolled her eyes at his summation before turning her attention back to Tom. "I don't care what he says, Jocelyn is not going to be okay with me hanging out with Bree. And I don't even see what the risk is for. Bree and I have nothing in common. I tried to talk to her and, aside from the fact that she won't talk, even if she did I'd have nothing to say. I can't compliment her clothes because they're horrible...except for the really cute top she wore the other day..."
"Connie," Tom cut her off. "If you want to go on a double date, it's going to be Harry and Bree."
Now it was Connie's turn to sigh in exasperation. "How do you even know Harry will agree? I thought you said he didn't do the dating thing."
"Well...apparently Harry is doing a lot of things he didn't do before," Tom answered.
* * *
Bree walked around Harry's room with an almost reverent awe. She had a feeling that he didn't allow many people in there, so she felt among the privileged few.
In all honesty, there wasn't that much to look at: a bed, a bedside table, a surprisingly uncluttered desk, a wall unit that housed a stereo, television and video game system and a chair.
"Nice," Bree said, although she wasn't sure that was the correct word. Not that it wasn't a nice room, it just didn't seem like it had Harry's imprint on it.
"I told you it wasn't much," Harry said.
"How much time do you spend in here?" Bree asked.
"I don't know," Harry shrugged. "Why?"
"It just doesn't seem like you."
"And what do you think my room should look like?" Harry sat down on his bed and clasped his hands in his lap as he awaited her response.
"Well...it's a lot neater than I'd thought it'd be." Bree began.
"So you think I'm messy?"
"Well...most guys are. Not that anything about you is messy," Bree backpedaled uncomfortably.
"What else?" Harry asked, amused by her discomfort.
"I don't know...it seems like...not decorated...but everything matches. Everything looks like it goes together...I mean, not that it should look like it came from a garage sale, but...oh nevermind," Bree said, flushed.
Harry laughed as he pulled her down beside him on the bed. "My mom bought all this stuff. I had no say in any of it. I'm sure she'd change it if I asked her to, but I don't really care, to tell you the truth. It's just a place to crash."
"Harry, it's really nice." Bree emphasized. "I'd love to crash here."
"Anytime you want," Harry said as he nuzzled kissed along her neck.
Bree closed her eyes and reveled in the moment. Having Harry's lips on her neck was a feeling she never planned to grow weary of.
In no time at all, Harry had shifted his weight onto Bree, enticing her into a reclined position, his lips never leaving her skin.
"Harry," Bree whispered, "Your mom's here."
"She's downstairs. She won't come up here," Harry said between kisses.
"How do you know?" Bree held him off.
"Ssshh." Harry's mouth moved from her neck to her lips, and Bree fell silent, lost in his caresses.
The kisses turned ardent and deep, and when Harry's hands found their way underneath Bree's shirt, his thumbs simultaneously stroking and manipulating her nipples, Bree moaned out his name.
Did that soap opera moan just come from me?
In addition to what he was doing with his hands at the moment, Harry introduced Bree to what she hoped was her first of many sensual weaknesses: the sultry whisper.
"Your tits feel so fuckin' awesome," Harry whispered in her ear.
Overcome with desire, Bree didn't know what to do with her hands. They roamed through Harry's hair, down his back, underneath his shirt...
"Bree," again with the whisper, "have you ever had an orgasm?"
Bree's mind tried to come down from the physical high Harry's actions had placed her on.
"Have you?" he asked again.
"No," Bree murmured in response.
"Do you want to?" Harry's words tickled Bree as they reverberated upon her ear.
When Bree pulled back from Harry to look deeply into his eyes, her breathing had yet to adjust to the cessation of activity.
"What do you mean...how...what would we..." Bree struggled to coherently express her thoughts.
Yet Harry understood her perfectly. "You don't have to have sex to have an orgasm."
Bree rolled her eyes and let out a quiet giggle. "I know that," she said, even though she wasn't quite sure that she did.
Harry didn't want to force Bree, but the craving he felt to explore her body couldn't be ignored. In asking her about the orgasm, Harry wondered if he'd freaked her out, but her lips were back on his and her hands were on his back taking rabid fistfuls of his shirt, clutching his body closer to hers. She wanted this.
"Do you want to?" Harry coaxed softly again, speaking of her release.
"Yes," Bree returned through closed eyes. It was all she said, but it was all Harry needed to hear.
With finesse, his hands traveled from her torso to the snap on the waistband of her jeans. When it opened with no difficulty, Harry began to ease down her zipper with his thumb and forefinger.
While one ear was tuned to Bree and any sound that would reveal her discomfort, the other ear heard a disturbance not so far away. Harry slowed his hands to rest atop Bree's underwear before sitting up and ceasing his actions all together. He held up a finger to his lips and motioned for Bree to stay where she was.
Quietly, Harry stepped to his bedroom door and poked out his head, careful not to allow a glimpse of anything in the room behind him.
Anne stood mere inches away with a stack of towels in her hand.
"Mom?" Harry asked. "What are you doing?"
"Oh, honey, you scared me!" Anne put her hand to her heart. "It was so quiet up here that I didn't think anyone was home. Is Bree in there with you?"
At the mention of her name, Harry could hear Bree scrambling around behind him.
"What are you doing?" Harry asked again. Harry knew Anne to be good at many things, but lying wasn't one of them. He knew that she'd known he was in his room with Bree.
"Just putting some towels away," Anne said.
"Upstairs? You never put towels in this closet." Harry bantered.
Anne looked at him silently for a long while before she motioned to him with her finger. Harry stuck his head back in his room to tell Bree he'd be right back.
"What?" he asked his mother in a tone that hinted that he was being greatly inconvenienced.
"What are you doing?" Anne asked as if she expected Harry to report that he was playing a board game.
"Just hanging out with Bree." Harry answered.
"And do you have to have the door closed for that?"
Harry shrugged. "Why not?"
"Because I don't think it's proper. If you and Bree are going to spend time in your room, you need to leave the door open."
"But I-"
"Door open or you can visit with one another in the den. The choice is yours." Anne told him with finality.
Harry cursed under his breath. "We were just leaving anyway."
Harry reappeared inside his bedroom as if nothing had transpired, but Bree could tell by the way he moved about her and the distance he kept that their moment of intimacy had passed. She internally groaned, but didn't say a word.
"You want to get out of here?" Harry asked.
"Where to?" Bree asked.
Harry shrugged. "Let's just go for a ride."
"Okay," Bree agreed. "Oh, what did your mom say about you passing the test?"
"I didn't tell her."
"You didn't tell her? But, Harry, she'll be so happy for you. You have to tell her." Bree silently hoped that Anne was still standing out in the hallway listening to them. That way she would know there was more to their relationship than whatever she'd imagined they were up to behind Harry's closed door.
"I'll tell her later," Harry said as he grabbed Bree by the hand and led her out of his room.
At the bottom of the stairs, Harry's sister, Maddie, was going through a bunch of brightly colored cards that looked like invitations.
"Here," Maddie held one up Harry before offering one to Bree.
"What's this?" Bree asked in a tone she reserved for small children.
"An invitation. You can come to my birthday party," Maddie said with a smile.
Bree opened the invitation and read about an upcoming roller-skating party in honor of Maddie's seventh birthday.
"Wow...roller skating," Bree disguised the horror at the thought of herself on wheels. Unless she was incased in a frame with a motor, being on wheels would be a horrible disaster.
"Are you going to come?" Maddie wanted to know.
"Of course," Bree said.
Anne stood nearby smiling at Harry and Bree. When Bree met her gaze, she saw something else beneath the expression, but she couldn't quite identify it. Humor? Wonder? Apprehension?
"Bree, don't forget about our lunch date for tomorrow," Anne reminded her as Bree was slipping out the door with Harry.
"I won't. I'm looking forward to it," Bree assured her.
"You don't have to go to that party," Harry said once he and Bree were outside and out of Maddie's earshot.
"Of course I do!" Bree told him. "I was invited."
Harry laughed. "So, all it takes is an invitation to get you to go somewhere?"
"Pretty much," Bree chuckled.
"Hmm...I'll have to remember that," Harry mumbled.
Bree had no idea where she was going, but Harry had told her to turn right once they'd left his driveway, and every now and then he'd spout off a direction.
The rain had once again picked up in Lockridge and Bree maneuvered her truck cautiously through it. After a short while, Harry directed Bree into an empty field and told her to park the car.
"Where are we?" Bree asked.
"It's just a place I come sometimes when I want to be alone," Harry told her.
It was another glimpse into who Harry was and Bree was honored that he was sharing more of himself with her.
"What do you do here?" Bree asked as she looked out her window. The rain beading up on windshield made it difficult for her to see clearly, but of what she could see, it was the opening to a beautiful meadow.
"Whatever I want," Harry said casually.
"And what do you want to do?"
They both knew what the answer to that question was when Harry leaned over and kissed Bree fervently.
Harry wasted no time with permission as he again unfastened Bree's pants and pulled them away from her hips.
"Come here," Harry's voice was low and controlled as he pulled Bree onto his lap so that her back rested against his chest. Bree was amazed at how Harry managed to nearly get her pants pulled halfway down with that one move.
As their lips made contact, Bree saw that Harry was watching her closely. She closed her eyes to break the intensity of his gaze, but she knew he was still watching.
Skilled hands pushed Bree's pants the rest of the way down her legs and Bree kicked out of them easily. With long gliding passes, Harry's palms swept up and down Bree's thighs. When his hands reached her knees, he spread them apart, opening her wide.
As the cold air pounded upon her hot flesh, Bree felt erotic and bold. She arched her back as she tried to force contact with Harry's hands while maintaining a connection with his mouth.
Harry's hand descended over Bree's mound. He stroked her outer lips, feeling the moisture there and spreading it around.
"You're so wet." He whispered in her ear before greedily consuming her mouth. As if to give her a taste of things to come, Harry began thrusting his tongue in and out of Bree's mouth with such force that she had to rest her head on his shoulder in order to receive from him.
And then, when Bree was sure she had reached the highest state of ecstasy, the tip of Harry's finger ever so gently grazed her clit.
"Haahhmm," she moaned into his mouth.
Harry spread Bree wide with the fingers on his left had while the fingers on his right hand stroked the length of her clit feverishly. Each time her breathing and moaning became erratic, Harry would lessen his touch, teasing her into a frenzy.
Slowly and methodically he inserted his middle finger deep into her pussy.
"Mmm, you're so tight," Harry breathed against her before clamping down softly on her neck.
The scent of Bree's arousal filled the cab of her truck as Harry throttled her sex, pumping his fingers in and out mercilessly as she writhed underneath him. He could tell the moment her orgasm was upon her by the tremble of her legs and the quivers of her crevice against his hand.
As she came down, Harry removed his finger at an extremely slow pace, eliciting another shiver from Bree.
Harry's eyes washed over Bree's bare lower half as she collapsed against him, panting to catch her breath. He kissed the top of her head, causing Bree to raise her face to his and graze his lips with hers.
As she shifted, Bree felt Harry, hardened and engorged beneath her.
"Do you want me to...do...something..." Bree loosely offered. She knew Harry was aware that she had absolutely no experience in pleasuring a guy, but she was willing if he was in need.
"You already did," Harry offered her a sexy smile as she moved off of him and reached down to retrieve her clothes.
The brazen boldness brought on by passion subsided with their decreased physical activity and Bree felt herself blushing at the mere memory of what had just transpired between them. She tried not to concentrate on Harry's fully clothed presence as she quickly slipped on her underwear and struggled to put on her jeans with grace in the confined space.
Driving home, Harry continued to glance over at Bree. All joking aside, she was the smartest person he'd ever met and he was aware that they both knew that the only reason Bree had failed her driver's test was because she had put all her effort and energy into making sure that Harry had passed. Bree had sacrificed her success to make sure Harry had victory. And though it was but a skewed version of the same, Harry had sacrificed his pleasure in their moment of intimacy so that Bree could experience hers in the fullest. It may not have been much, but it was what Harry had to offer. And he wanted to offer something.