Rock and a Hard Place (8 page)

“
We’ll go grab a quick
lunch while Peter checks to see if . . .” she turned to Peter,
“What is her name?”

“
Libby.”

“
Yes, that’s right, Libby.
Well grab lunch while Peter checks to see if Libby is
there.”

His father grunted his assent.

“
Thank you.” Peter mouthed
to his mom.

She responded with a smile and a pat on his
arm.

“
Score,” he said under his
breath, pumping his fist.

Chapter 7

The instant the door opened
Peter flew out of the bus ignoring the steady rain that soaked the
area. His footsteps sank into the soggy grass as he ran across the
clearing and past the large oak where he first met Libby. He made
his way down the muddy path leading him closer to the stream. The
slick ground slowed his progress.
Please
let her be here
.

The rain came down in a constant stream,
muffling sounds in the glen. Peter rounded a bend and spotted
Libby. He paused and smiled. She grinned back. Then he laughed. She
stood in the center of the large rock that hung over the stream.
She wore a dark green windbreaker and jeans. One hand was tucked
into her coat pocket, the other held a huge blue and white faded
umbrella. Its enormity dwarfed her. She looked like a cute little
gnome who’d been left out in the rain.

Peter closed the distance in seconds.
“You’re here!”

“
So are you.” She grinned,
her hair damp. Peter noticed several gaping holes in the umbrella,
causing a constant flow of water onto her.

“
I was so worried you
wouldn’t be here, with the rain and all. Have you been waiting
long?” He wanted to reach out and hug her, but didn’t quite know
how to make it happen.

“
No, not long at all.” A
shiver racked her body.

“
Liar, your lips are
turning blue.” Peter’s eyes settled on her trembling
mouth.

“
You’re getting soaked,
come stand under the umbrella.” She lifted it enough to clear his
height. In the process of tipping the umbrella a sheet of cold
water swooshed off the back and splashed their legs as it hit the
rock.

“
Oops, sorry,” she said
with a giggle.

Peter crowded close under the umbrella. He
gazed down at her smiling face. Rain drops clung to her
eyelashes.

“
What do you say we go
somewhere we won’t get pummeled by rain?” He took the umbrella from
Libby and wrapped his arm around her. She felt small, delicate and
very wet. They moved off the rock and climbed to an area near the
wall. Trees reached over the glen, blocking some of the rain, the
constant downfall now sounded like a pitter patter.

Peter reached for her hand and held the
oversized umbrella with his other. “Geez, your hand is
freezing.”

“
I’m not gonna lie, it was
really cold out here, but I didn’t want to stand you up.” Her
cheeks chafed red from the cold. “So I hope you plan on making it
worth my while,” she challenged him with a sly look.

“
Now that you mention it, I
did have something in mind.”

Libby’s eyes widened.

“
Want to know what it is?”
he teased, watching her reaction. He loved to see her off
balance.

“
Okay.” Now she looked less
confident. Peter almost laughed.

“
I have something for you.”
He had moved heaven and earth to pull this together.

“
You do?” Her eyes
glittered in surprise.

“
Yup. Close your eyes and
hold out your hands.” He couldn’t wait to see what she thought.
Libby obeyed. Her dark eyelashes lay against her rosy cheeks. His
heart beat in anticipation. He reached into his jacket pocket and
pulled out a white plastic bag, then glanced up. Her closed eyes
changed to little slits.

“
Hey stop
peeking!”

Libby squeezed her eyes closed and laughed.
She held out her hands and waited. Peter pulled the slim item out
of the bag and placed it in her hands.

“
Okay, look.”

She peered at the shiny device and then back
at him in disbelief. “You gave me a cell phone?” She stared at the
gift. “You gave me a cell phone!” This time she yelled it.

Her excitement touched him. “It seemed like
a good idea. You didn’t have a phone number to give me and I really
missed you. It’s gonna get harder to see you. I thought this way we
could stay in touch and actually talk whenever we want.”

She closed her hand around the precious
phone and turned pensive.

“
Is something wrong?” He
wondered what could have upset her.

“
I don’t know if I should
accept this.” She gazed up at him with large doe eyes. He couldn’t
believe this. She needed to take the phone.

“
We barely know each other,
and, well . . .” Mischief lit her face and he wondered what she was
up to. “We’ve never even kissed.”

Peter paused and took a good look at her.
He’d been wondering how to sneak a kiss; she just made it
simple.

He tossed the umbrella aside and pulled her
close. He let his fingers tangle in her wet hair and lowered his
mouth to hers. He kissed her long and slow, taking his sweet time.
Cold rain trickled down his neck as he savored each moment.
Startled at first, Libby now matched his kiss. He enjoyed each
touch of her tender lips.

He slowly pulled away.

“
Now can you take the
phone?” his forehead rested against hers.

“
Yeah, I think so,” she
answered in a breathy voice.

“
I’d better be sure.”
Empowered by their perfect chemistry, he leaned in for more. Her
body melted against him. He wrapped his other arm around her, and
pulled her close.

“
Wow,” she whispered, her
eyes dark and smoky

“
Haven’t you ever been
kissed before?” His eyes searched hers.

“
Not like that.”

“
Good.”

Nothing like kissing a girl senseless to
boost his confidence. “I think I’ll just stay here all day. The
rain’s not so bad.” He caressed her damp cheek with his thumb.

“
I’d like that.” She leaned
her head back against the rock wall, gazing contently up into his
eyes.

“
The tour is overrated
anyway.”

Libby leaned into him eager for more.
Everything about her brought Peter alive. His life was great; he
had nothing to complain about. But this simple girl turned
everything upside down. He couldn’t get enough. He wanted to sneak
her onto the bus and take her with him.

They parted, breathless and aroused, secure
in each other’s arms. Peter’s phone rang. His family was back.

“
I should have sent them to
Iowa for lunch.”

“
You can’t leave me now.”
She sighed, wanting to stay in Peter’s arms all day.

“
I think I’ll have to kill
them. With my bare hands. Except my hands are busy.” He emphasized,
moving them down over her hips and back up.

“
What are we going to do?”
Disappointment colored her words.

They had opened a new door and complicated
their lives. Neither wanted to walk away.

“
We’re going to talk as
often as possible and text in between.” He hoped to reassure her
this was only the beginning.

“
Okay, but when will I see
you again?” she asked, the angst clear in her voice.

“
I don’t know. We’re
leaving the Midwest for a while.” Not knowing worried him too. “But
that isn’t going stop us from being together. I’ll figure something
out. I promise.” He meant it with every fiber of his being. They
barely knew each other, but he would not let her go. The connection
they shared was extraordinary.

Libby nodded, her trust in him absolute. His
phone played music again.

“
You’re
ringing.”

“
They can wait, I’m with
them all the time. You’re special.”

He lowered his lips to hers once more,
feeling neither the cold nor the rain.

# # #

Peter jogged through the steady rain, his
heart bursting with joy. The silver bus stood ominous, surrounded
by a thick fog.

He hammered on the door twice. It opened
smoothly. He returned to the other part of his life, energized and
empowered. He could conquer the world.

“
Peter, where’s Libby?” His
mother asked.

He pushed the hood of his jacket back and
shook his head like a dog, spraying water on everyone around
him.

“
Dude, grab a towel, would
ya?” Garrett blocked his face with his arm.

“
She didn’t want a ride.
She’s not far from home and wanted to walk.”

His parents exchanged concerned glances.

“
She’s really shy, that’s
all.”

“
Apparently not too shy,”
Adam said, noticing Peter’s over-the-top mood.

Peter shrugged, a smug grin on his face. He
moved to the back of the bus, high-fiving Garrett as he passed.

“
Oh yeah, little brother.”
Garrett said.

“
We brought you a burger,”
his mother called.

“
Not hungry.” He plopped
onto the couch, popped in his earphones, and closed his eyes. He
lost himself in thoughts of Libby.

# # #

Libby sat in the middle of her bed wearing
her sweatshirt and underwear. The sopping wet jeans she wore
earlier lay in a pile on the floor along with her squishy shoes and
dripping socks. She spread the new gift out on the bed like the
crown jewels.

Unfortunately she didn’t
know how to use the shiny new phone. All the kids at school owned
phones. She was about to get one last year, but then the car
accident happened.
The box contained some
cords and a small instruction booklet. She picked up the high-tech
device and ran her hands over it when a familiar Jamieson tune
played.

She dropped the phone, then flipped it over
and tried to figure out how to answer. She fumbled over the buttons
on the screen until she heard laughter come from the tiny unit.

She picked it up and held it to her ear.
“Hello?”

“
Can you hear me?” Peter’s
magical voice sounded close.

“
Yeah, hang on, I’m trying
to figure this out.” Libby turned the phone around and found the
right end for her ear. “Okay, can you hear me now?”

“
Your voice is music to my
ears,” Peter answered.

Libby felt warm and tingly down to her cold
feet. “I can’t believe you gave me a phone.”

“
Well, I had to do
something. I couldn’t quit the tour and hide in the woods everyday
waiting for you. My dad would have blown a gasket. I figured this
would be a good compromise.”

“
Works for me. Although I’d
have hated for you to disappoint all your fans.”

“
Whatcha doing?”

“
Sitting on my bed looking
at all this stuff that goes with the phone. I just got here a few
minutes ago.

“
Perfect timing. You’ll
have to learn how to put it on vibrate when you’re at
school.”

“
I’ve decided to quit
school so I can talk to you all day.” She wished she
could.

“
No you won’t. You need to
study, get smart and graduate. You’ll never get to college if you
don’t finish high school.”

She couldn’t stop grinning. This was almost
like having him there with her. “Never fear. I’m only a few credits
from graduation anyway.”

“
Are you a
senior?”

“
No, I’m a junior, but I
have enough credits to graduate at the end of the
semester.”

“
How’d you manage that? I
just finished last spring and I swore it would kill me. I hated
homework. It kept me from writing songs.”

“
I spend a lot of time
studying. I’ve had a lot of time on my hands, so I just loaded up
on extra classes and took summer courses.” Studying had been her
savior and only sanity. Losing herself in books made the rest of
the world go away. You don’t notice kids snubbing you, when you’re
deep into Advanced Biology or Calculus, and you don’t worry about
your missing dad either.

“
So you’re a
brainiac?”

“
Maybe,” she replied with a
smile. She carried a 4.0 even through the trauma of losing her
family. She clung to her studies. “Does that bother you?” Some guys
didn’t like smart girls.

“
Heck no, maybe some of
your smarts will rub off on me.”

“
So where are you? What are
you doing?”

“
We’re headed south, Texas,
and I’m sitting in my bunk talking to this really cool girl I
know.”

Libby hugged herself. “Texas is far. How
long till you get there?”

“
I think it’s about sixteen
hours to Dallas, so I have a lot of time to talk.”

“
I can handle that, but
you’re going to have to tell me how to plug in this phone or we’ll
drain the battery on the first time out.”

She talked to him late into the night about
anything and everything. It felt like they’d known each other
forever. He gave her the basics on how to work her phone, use the
internet, and text. She cut him off three times in the process.