Curtis (5 page)

Of their own free will, her fingers slid into his silky hair, her palms moving against the slightly rough surface of his jaw. He was warm and he smelled so good. Like … Curtis.

Just when she thought he would pull back, Curtis’s head shifted slightly, and his tongue caressed the seam of her lips. The action caught her by surprise, and she gasped, only to find his tongue sliding into her mouth, moving against hers. It was a strange sensation, but it was nice. Nicer than she’d imagined.

She could taste the sweetness of the gum he’d been chewing, which helped to mask the taste of cigarettes that was also there. She didn’t mind it, actually. It was sexy.

Rather than pull away, Lorrie leaned into him, allowing Curtis to deepen the kiss. Their tongues mingled, sliding together effortlessly. The way he groaned, the rumble of his chest against her arms… It caused the butterflies in her belly to take flight.

Before she wanted it to end, Curtis pulled back, and he was staring down at her. He looked as dazed as she felt, but neither of them said anything, and her fear that she’d done something wrong began to take over. Right up until he smiled.

“That was the best birthday gift I’ve ever gotten,” he whispered, his hands falling down to his sides as she leaned back.

Lorrie had no idea what to say to that, but she secretly hoped that he would kiss her again. His eyes raked over her face, briefly meeting hers before falling back to her lips.

“You wanna go steady?” Curtis blurted.

Lorrie couldn’t hide her surprise, nor could she stop the face-splitting smile that took over. Without hesitation, she said, “Yes.”

“Really?” It was Curtis’s turn to be surprised, apparently.

“Did you think I’d say no?”

“I didn’t know what you’d say.”

Lorrie grinned to herself, her heart filled to overflowing as she looked at this boy who was now … well, technically, if they were going steady, that made Curtis Walker her boyfriend. She wasn’t sure she’d ever been this happy in her entire life.

chapter FOUR

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1962

It’s true. Curtis Walker is the nicest, most wonderful boy I know. Even though we see each other every day, he doesn’t act like it. He says he’s just as excited to see me as I am to see him. Today, we went down to the creek, and he brought some blankets. Although it was cold, we curled up and talked for hours. He told me that he got a letter from his brother Gerald, who’s in the Army. He seemed a little conflicted. I thought it would make him happy, but he said that Gerald really wants him to join the Army when he turns eighteen. He doesn’t know if he wants to or not. But he did seem happy to hear from Gerald, and he said it made his momma happy, too.

Oh, and you won’t believe it! Kathy got mad at me today. She told Momma and Daddy that Jeff Anderson wants to take her to the movie. They told her she couldn’t go out with a boy because she’s too young. She argued with them and said that it wasn’t fair that I got to go out with Curtis. I thought they would say it was because I was fourteen, but no, they said I was allowed to see Curtis because he was a Walker. I don’t know what they meant by that, but as long as they let me see Curtis, I don’t really care.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1962

Curtis keeps asking me if he can take me on a real date. I told him I don’t need to go anywhere, that I’m happy just being with him. We go to get ice cream or root beer floats at the diner, and he has taken me to the library, so that feels like a real date to me. He said he wants to take me out and spend money on me, like at a real restaurant or the movie theater. He told me I’d really like the drive-in movies, too. It’s nice of him to offer, but I like when we get to spend time alone. I like the way he kisses me, the way he makes me feel when he holds me in his arms. He told me I’ll have to go on a date with him sooner or later.

Maybe. One day.

chapter FIVE

Friday, Februa
ry 8, 1963

Curtis took me on a date. A real one.

He said I didn’t have a choice because it was an early valentine’s day present, so I gave in and agreed. I got dressed up in my favorite church dress, and we went to the drive-in movie in Austin. I haven’t been before. It was nice. I had a wonderful time. But honestly, I didn’t pay much attention to the movie. I couldn’t stop thinking about Curtis sitting so close to me and smelling so good. It felt different from when we’re at the creek, but I don’t know why that is. He makes me jittery, but in a good way. In a way that I want to experience over and over again.

I think he wants to go all the way with me. Every time he kisses me, his hands start to wander. Sometimes I think I like it more than I’m supposed to. Other times I get nervous and he stops. I don’t think I’m ready for that yet. I mean, I love him and I like kissing him (I wish I could kiss him forever), I even enjoy his touch on my skin, but I’m confused by the way he makes me feel. I don’t know if it’s normal to have all these feelings inside me. Everyone (teachers, momma, the pastor) says that sex before marriage is wrong, but what Curtis makes me feel doesn’t feel wrong. But I still don’t think I’m ready. Not yet.

Curtis could still remember that first kiss he’d shared with Lorrie down by the creek all those months ago. It had been the first of many. For five months, they’d been going down to the creek, talking and necking, sometimes sitting for hours, always touching, trying to get close, but not too close. A few times, he’d even kissed her in the barn when she had helped him with some of his chores.

But the kissing was as far as they’d gotten, and Curtis was getting antsy. Every second he spent with her was undoubtedly the best moments of his life, but they were also the most painful. Physically, anyway. His body wasn’t on the same page as his brain. His balls ached so damn bad sometimes that the only thing he could do was rub one out to relieve some of the tension.

He refused to take things further with Lorrie even though he dreamed about slipping his hand up her shirt, touching her bare breast, tasting her taut nipple. He wanted to push his fingers into her panties and make her feel good, listen to her raspy voice when she said his name. And he wanted her to touch him in return, to feel her soft, smooth fingers running over every inch of his body. He’d gone so far as to imagine sliding deep inside her body. He wanted to kiss every inch of her, listen to her moan and whimper and cry out his name as he did. As a matter of fact, he spent far too much time thinking about it. Hell, it was the only thing he dreamed about. And thoughts like that were the reason he was masturbating every night. Sometimes twice a day, yet the relief was always short-lived.

It was safe to say, she was killing him slowly.

So many months had passed since that first kiss on his seventeenth birthday, and Curtis wasn’t sure how he was going to survive much longer. And though they’d kissed for hours and hours since then, that was the extent of their time together. They needed to do something else, something that would take his mind off all the things he wanted to do to her. He had yet to take her on a real date, one that required them to leave Granite Creek, mainly because she said she didn’t want to, but tonight he intended to remedy that.

“Where d’ya think you’re goin’?” his mother slurred when he walked into the living room to find her sitting in the dark, a bottle in her hand.

“Out,” he told her.

“Where?”

“Doesn’t matter.” Wasn’t as though she’d remember even if he told her.

“You can’t take the truck.”

“I’m takin’ the truck,” he insisted, keeping his tone firm.

“You’re just like your father,” Mary Elizabeth screamed. “Always doin’ exactly what you wanna do. Leavin’ me all alone.” A sob escaped her, but Curtis didn’t say anything.

Never did she commend him for doing all the chores, for keeping up with the horses, for taking care of the ranch now that his dad was gone. Not once had she had an ounce of concern for that. He feared that if it were up to her, Mary Elizabeth would lose the ranch and the house and all the land that had belonged to the Walkers for generations.

Curtis wasn’t going to allow that to happen. Unfortunately, since Gerald was off in the Army, he was the second oldest, so all of the responsibility fell on him. Every now and then, he could get Joseph or David to help, but they always wanted to bitch and moan, so he found it easier to do it all himself. Somehow, he’d managed to keep things moving, to keep the hired hands working, but he wasn’t sure how much longer he’d be able to do it alone.

Thankfully, his old man had been insistent that he learn what it meant to be a rancher, ever since Curtis was little. It meant long days, that was what it meant. Since his father had died, he’d busted his ass through the cold winter months, trying to keep everything running smoothly. Trying to balance that and school. It meant he got up every morning and did chores before school, then came home and did more as soon as he walked Lorrie home. All while his mother hadn’t lifted a finger.

He understood that she was sad. He didn’t blame her for all the tears she had shed since Frank had died. But he knew, at some point, she had to pick herself up and move on. Life wasn’t going to wait for her.

So no, Curtis wasn’t going to allow her to tell him what he could or couldn’t do.

“When will you be back, at least?” she grumbled from the dark.

“After the movie.” He was taking Lorrie to a drive-in movie for the first time—
her
first time—and the thought of being alone in the truck in the dark made his jeans tighten. “Don’t wait up.”

Leaving his mother with her booze, Curtis grabbed the car keys off the wall and headed out the door, eager to see Lorrie even though he’d seen her when he’d walked her home after school. It was getting harder and harder to be away from her. Curtis wanted to spend every waking moment with her, and he feared that when he graduated next year, things would only get more difficult for them.

Yet he didn’t know how to fix that, but luckily he still had some time to figure it out.

From the moment Curtis had knocked on her front door and talked to her father, Lorrie had been trying to hide the way her hands were shaking. As soon as she had mentioned that Curtis was taking her to a drive-in movie, her sister Celeste, who was only eleven, had been asking her a million questions, every one of those still pummeling her brain.

“Will you make out with him?”

“Do you think the windows will steam up?”

“Are you going to go all the way?”

“Do you love him?”

Lorrie wasn’t even sure how her little sister knew what going all the way meant. Nor did she want to know.

Although Celeste seemed entirely too curious, Kathy was still a little peeved that Lorrie got to date and she didn’t, but apparently she was more inquisitive than angry, because she’d urged Lorrie to answer.

Maybe.

She didn’t know.

No, of course not.

Absolutely.

Lorrie didn’t share the answers to any of those questions with her sisters. Except for the last one. She did love Curtis and she didn’t care who knew. She loved him more than she loved anything in the world, and she wasn’t even sure how she’d gotten to this point, but when she was around him, nothing else mattered. Nothing except him and the way it felt to be in his arms, to listen to his heartbeat against her ear, to hold his hand, to feel his mouth on hers. They talked about anything and everything, from what it was like growing up in Granite Creek to the fact that neither of them ever wanted to leave the small town. She had told him about how mean her father was, and in turn, Curtis had said his father wasn’t as mean as people thought, but he had been one to dole out punishments to keep the kids in line.

With every word, every kiss, she was falling in love with him a little bit more.

And now here they were, alone in his daddy’s fancy truck on their very first date.

“Come here, darlin’,” Curtis urged, sliding his arm over the back of the seat after he affixed the speaker to the window.

Lorrie moved closer, allowing her leg to press up against his as he placed a soft kiss to her temple. She loved when he did that. He was always so affectionate, and it made her feel good. It was new to her since her mother and father didn’t kiss each other like that. Her daddy didn’t even hug them or kiss them good night, and he never had. For the first time in her life, she felt … loved.

She didn’t know what the movie—
The Raven
, Curtis had said—they were seeing was about, nor did she care. It didn’t matter that this was her first time at a drive-in theater, either. Her parents used to go from time to time, and she’d heard about it from when Mitch talked about his dates, but it was a new experience for her. Her family didn’t have money, so the luxuries that other people had weren’t available to her. They didn’t have a television, no record player or radio, and they never got to go anywhere. For the most part, Lorrie felt as though she knew very little about anything outside of Granite Creek.

And still, the only thing she could think about was how close Curtis was, how good he smelled, how she enjoyed the warmth of his arm over her shoulder and the easy way his thumb grazed her skin from time to time.

“You warm enough?” he asked, his mouth close to her ear, his words loud enough to hear over the tinny sound coming from the speaker box in the window.

Not quite sure her voice would work, Lorrie nodded. Still, Curtis hugged her closer as she attempted to focus on the screen, her eyes inadvertently going to the windshield, wondering why the glass fogged up when people were in cars at the drive-in. That had her attention straying to other cars and trucks nearby. Were their windows fogged up? If so, what were they doing? Did she even want to know?

Finally, Lorrie managed to relax, leaning into Curtis and resting her head on his shoulder and her hand on his thigh as she tried to focus on the movie. She felt the muscle beneath her palm flex and relax, flex and relax. She wondered if he was as nervous as she was. This was the first time they’d been away from Granite Creek together.

Halfway through the movie, she was again having a difficult time paying attention. While her hand still rested on his leg, his arm around her shoulder, his other hand had moved to her thigh, gently grazing her skin right beneath the hem of her skirt. She liked the way it felt to have him touching her like that. Chill bumps broke out along her arms, her heart was beating as fast as a wild Mustang, and her breath was rushing in and out of her chest.

Although she knew it was wrong—according to her mother, girls were not to be touched like this before they were married—Lorrie didn’t want Curtis to stop. So, when his lips caressed her neck, Lorrie turned her head, giving him better access. His hand inched a little higher on her thigh, and her legs moved apart without her meaning to.

His touch was … perfect. His rough fingers brushed over the sensitive skin of her inner thigh while his lips sucked on the skin of her neck.