A Modern Love Story (4 page)

He nodded once and turned back around. “You might be okay, Squirt.”

“Thanks, Stretch.”

“Yeah, you and me, we might just get along. For now.”

Chapter 2

Fourteen years old

“Hey, Stretch. Can I ask you something?” Robbie stood in the doorway of Luc’s bedroom and surveyed the damage. “Jeez. Did a bomb go off in here? It’s safe to enter, right?”

“If that’s your question then you can go back the way you came.”

“Touchy.” She slipped in and eased on to the edge of his bed. “I have a date tonight.”

Luc turned away from his computer, swiveling in his chair until he faced her knee-to-knee. “We’re leaving to go camping in the morning.”

“I know. What’s that got to do with tonight?”

“Just saying.”

“I’ll be ready.”

He nodded once, then shrugged. “Was there a question, or you just gonna sit there and stare at me all night?”

“I wanted to ask for a favor.”

“To hell with that. You’ve got the wrong room, Squirt. The L’s should be back soon. Ask one of them for your fucking favor. I got shit to do.”

She let out a light gasp. “I can’t ask them.”

“Then too fucking bad for you. I’m not in the habit of doing favors for people.”

“Luc. Please. This is hard enough. Don’t make me beg.”

He angled his chair and kicked back as his brow creased. “What is it?”

“I have a date with Scott Morgan.”

“Why? The guy’s a total asshole.”

“He is not.”

“I’m not loaning you money.”

“I’m not asking for any.”

“I don’t have a car to truck you around in.”

“You don’t have a license either,” she pointed out.

“Never stopped me before.”

“I don’t need you to drive me anywhere.”

He waited a beat, then began ticking things off on his fingers. “Shit. I don’t have an outfit you can borrow. I don’t have any pull over your curfew. I don’t have any concert tickets to give you. And no, your ass doesn’t look big in those jeans.”

She laughed nervously, pushing at the big curls in her hair. “Ah, none of the above.”

“Jesus Christ, Rob. Ask or get the hell out. I don’t have all fucking night to guess.” He sighed and rolled his eyes when she winced at the swearing.

“It’s my first date.”

“And…?” He spread his hands out as if searching for the relevance. “Wait. You mean first ever?”

“Yeah.”

Folding his arms, he considered her for a moment. “I guess that’s about right. I don’t remember any others. But what’s this got to do with me?” He held up a hand. “Hold up. Maybe I don’t want to know. See Leah if you want to know about the damn birds and bees.”

“Jeez, Luc. No. Just, shut up a minute.” She pushed against her temples in frustration.

“My pleasure.”

She’d rather walk across burning coals than ask what she meant to, but on the other hand, it was too important to leave up to chance. She tipped her head back and spoke at the ceiling. “I’ve never kissed a guy before.”

At that moment, given how flushed she felt, hot coals would have been a soothing alternative. The silence was unbearable. Without looking at him, she stood to leave.

His hand clamped on to her wrist like an iron vice. “Hold up, Squirt. You got me curious now.” She sat slowly, staring at her hands as he let her go. “Where you going with this?”

“Scott’s probably kissed other girls before.”

“Probably.”

“I don’t want to mess it up.”

“And where do I come in?”

“You’re gonna make me say it, aren’t you?” She glanced at his darkly amused eyes, his smirk.

“You bet your ass I am.”

“Forget it.” She tried to stand, but this time he clamped down on both wrists.

“Okay, okay. So, what’re you thinking?”

“That you’ve kissed girls before.”

“You’d be right about that.” When she didn’t respond, he continued. “And you want me to tell you how it’s done?”

“I don’t want…” She bit her lip. Oh, God.

“You
don’t
want me to give you pointers?”

“No. I do, but…”

“Shit, Rob. Just spit it out.”

“I-want-you-to-show-me-how.” Her eyes got big as she slapped a hand over her mouth. “Forget it,” she mumbled behind her fingers. “I can’t believe I just said that.”

“Jesus. Make up your mind. Do you want me to fucking help you, or not?”

She nodded.

“Then shut the hell up and let me think this through a sec.” Robbie stared at him, and he stared right back. “Okay, we start simple.” He rubbed his palms on his thighs as he leaned in, eyes locked on hers. “Now you’ll wanna tip your head to the side. No, not so much. Just so you don’t bang into my nose.” He pushed close, glanced to her lips. “I feel like you’re fucking getting ready to swallow me. Shut your mouth.”

Robbie did as instructed and he came closer, then closer. Her eyes fluttered closed when his firm lips met hers—once, twice. And just when she anticipated the third, she sensed him pulling away.

“That’s it? Luc—”

“Shit, Rob. Chill the fuck out. Just keeping it simple. Baby steps and all. Do you want me to do this or not?”

“Sorry.”

“‘
S’all
right.” He leaned back, running his fingers through his hair. “Okay, okay. Here we go. Now, let me show you. Just follow my lead.”

“Got it.”

“Don’t watch me.”

Robbie closed her eyes, and when she smelled his Juicy Fruit and felt his warm breath against her lips, she tensed.

“Relax, Robbie,” he murmured, putting his steady hands on her shoulders. “I’m not gonna hurt you.”

His mouth brushed against hers, softly, then firmer with more conviction. When she felt his lips part, she did the same. When she felt the testing slide of his tongue, she matched the movement. They sank into the kiss, little by little, and Robbie forgot to pay attention to what she was doing and simply went with instinct. And when she did, she found it was as natural an act as breathing.

Luc’s fingers snaked up her neck, over her jaw, and then dived into her hair, knotting and anchoring there. Holding her firm, he changed the angle, took the kiss deeper. Robbie fought the urge to whimper as she battled to keep up, as if their mouths were at war and there could only be one victor. She wanted to touch him, grab him, pull him closer, but her muscles disintegrated and her arms wouldn’t cooperate. And then he loosed his hold, slowed the kiss, and pulled back.

Her lips felt battered, swollen, and when she spoke, her voice was barely there. “You win.”

He chuckled and sat back. “Damn, Squirt.” Shaking his head, he pushed to his feet. “Don’t worry about a thing. Scott definitely won’t be disappointed.” He chuckled again and rubbed at the back of his neck as he strode out of the room.

“No,” Robbie mumbled, “but I might be.”

*****

Luc woke up the next morning in a mood. The kind that everyone noticed, but no one mentioned. Not unless they wanted to get their head ripped off, beat with a flourish, and handed back as a wad of bloody pulp. He swung out to the dark side from time to time, but the black cloud that would hang over his head eventually drifted off. On this particular day, however, it seemed to take much longer than usual. That could only mean one thing: It wasn’t just a passing mood, something was bothering him.

He sulked as he stared out the window, fully aware of Robbie peeking over at him. He completely ignored her. He didn’t want to talk to anyone, especially her. Why? Who the hell knew? His moods teetered without conscious thought half the time, and the main target of them tended to just be someone of convenience rather than someone he had an issue with. But, whatever the reason, he couldn’t stand to even look at her. So he didn’t, and he sat, glaring at the passing world during the entire drive to the mountains.
 

When they arrived at their campsite, Luc was relieved to get some distance from Robbie. Within the confines of the car, he sensed whatever he was feeling towards her was festering and threatening to boil over. He needed some fucking fresh air, and something to keep his hands busy.
 
Helping Lawson set up camp helped, although didn’t fully alleviate, his mood.
 

“Something bothering you, Luc?” Lawson handed him another bag of gear as they fell into the familiar routine.

“No.”

“Oh, I can see that.”

“I’m in a mood. That’s all.”

“Seems more than that.” Lawson glanced at him. “Nothing happened then?”

“No. What would have fucking happened between when I went to bed and when I got up? I just woke up in a mood, and I’d appreciate it if everyone would leave me the fuck alone about it.”

“Hey, now. Like you said, no one did anything to you. So let’s try to keep it clean and not blast the world around you, okay?”

“Jesus. It’s gotten to the point a guy can’t just be in a bad mood.”

“You have a right to your bad moods, but no right to make everyone else pay for them. If you don’t want to talk about it, then fine. But I won’t have you lashing out at the girls when they get back. This is a vacation. It’s supposed to be fun, and no one needs to worry about tip-toeing around you all day.”

“Right. Like anyone would tip-toe. Like anyone really gives a flying fuck what my problem is.”

Lawson dropped his tent pole and strode over. He turned Luc with a hand on his shoulder. “You don’t really believe that, do you?”

Luc prepared to rant, but huffed a breath instead. “No.” Pulling his hands through his hair, he let the tension roll out of his muscles. “No. I don’t believe that. And I know everyone’s been tip-toeing, as you put it. But I don’t know what my problem is.”

“Well, if you figure it out and you want to talk, you know where to find me. In the meantime, try to shut it down some—the girls are on their way.” He nodded past Luc at Leah and Robbie walking back to the site, carrying the smaller, more manageable supplies.

Luc stooped to tie down the tent without looking at them.

“Lawson,” Leah called out, “where do you want this stuff?”

“Just over there, by Robbie’s tent.”

“Robbie’s going to go for a little hike before lunch, Luc. You want to join her?”

Luc looked over at Leah, and then at Robbie who—for once—was avoiding eye contact. “Fine.”

“There,” Leah said to Robbie. “Told you he’d want to go.”

“Oh, yeah. He sounds thrilled,” Robbie retorted sarcastically as she pulled out her hair tie. Shaking her curls out, she then smoothed it back into another tail.

“You want me to go or not?” Luc asked.