White is for Virgins (55 page)

“Let this be a lesson to all you young gentleman; don’t wait until last minute to ask a girl to the promenade,” Mrs. Sawyer announced, “because ‘us women like to have our freedoms of speech and of choice’, as Mr. Evans so wonderfully worded it, and we have the option to turn you down.”

The entire broke out in laughter and I could’ve sworn I saw Mrs. Sawyer smile as she tried to settle everyone down and return to the lesson.

There was no way in hell I was ever going to focus.

Chapter 34

My cheeks hurt from the overwhelming amount of smiling I had been doing the past week. Despite the rumors going around that Fox and I had “done the dirty” in every possible way in every crevice of every hallway at school and he had
taken it upon himself
to ask me to prom, I could not, for the life of me, stop smiling.

For once, I didn’t really care about the fact that people were talking about me. All I could focus on was how happy I was with Fox in my life – with no longer having to hold back. We’d still banter and have our little teasing arguments for the sake of opposing one another’s opinion, which I loved. We’d still study and make sure we didn’t let “Senioritis” stop us from graduating. But the hormones were building up. I sensed it every time we kissed. The urge to just keep going and the need to never stop was consuming me.

It freaked me out.

You have to play at least a
little
hard to get, Emery!
Lily’s scolding advice from earlier at lunch was stuck in my head as I walked around the RCC building and headed for the back entrance. It was a warm Friday afternoon and I was on the edge – anxious to see Fox.

When I entered the building, I was surprised to find I was the first to arrive. I stopped by Nina’s office to see how she was. She’d really blown up in the last few weeks and she seemed about ready to pop from both a mental and physical standpoint.

“Hey Nina,” I smiled, leaning on the doorframe of her office entrance. She looked up from her computer and smiled back, returning my greeting.

“How are you?”

“Same as yesterday,” she chuckled, returning to her typing. This was her usual response when I asked how she was doing. It really shut down my small talk efforts. Indirectly, she was saying she felt like shit. I was sure a huge part of her was excited for the baby, though; excited to see him and hold him, and have him off her bladder, for sure.

“Do you ever think about him?” I asked her, as if it was a part of our regular everyday conversation. By ‘him’ I assumed she knew who I meant. There weren’t that many ‘
him’s available for reference. She was under the impression that I still didn’t know Carlos was the father.

“Emery we already had this dis–” she started.

“I know, I know, Nina. But seriously, all ‘I pushed him away’s and ‘he’s better off’s aside, do you or do you not ever think about him? About picking up the phone and telling him he’s going to be a father?” I rushed.

She looked like a dear caught in headlights for the longest time.

“Just about every day,” she admitted, nodding sheepishly and looking down at her stomach. She was subconsciously rubbing her belly as she continued. “Every time I feel this little guy kick; every time I hear a Spanish beat; every time I close my eyes at night I’m reminded of how alone I am and how much I wish I wasn’t. Is that the answer you were hoping for?”

I saw she was nearing tears, but was successfully holding back and taking deep breaths.

“No,” I shook my head, “I wasn’t aiming for a perfect answer; I’m not trying to make you feel bad. I just wanted to hear the truth from you, because you’re my friend and I want you to be able to talk to me. You keep all of this bottled up inside you for no reason – it’s okay to talk to me about it. I may not be your age and I’m not pregnant myself, but I’m not incapable of understanding at least a little bit of where you’re coming from. I just hate that you feel like you have to put up some kind of front with everyone. You don’t have to prove that you’re perfectly fine on your own. In fact it’d be weird if you were completely okay.”

“Emery,” Nina chuckled, standing up and waddling over to hug me real quick. “You should study psychology in college,” she suggested, “because I have a feeling I’m going to need a therapist like you in the future.”

“Why do I have such negative friends?” I wondered out loud. We both laughed and I placed my hands on her shoulders. She placed hers on mine as well.

“You should call him,” I told her straight forwardly.

“I should,” she agreed, dropping her hands and returning to her chair. She squeezed herself in and pulled forward toward the desk.

“You’re not going to, are you?” I murmured, returning to the doorway as I heard Fox come in.

Nina shook her head slowly. “It’s too late for that, I think.”

“You think wrong,” I sighed as I walked over to the front desk. I doubt she’d heard me. In fact I hope she hadn’t. I didn’t want to push her and annoy her a week before her due-date. She had enough to deal with; I didn’t want her thinking I was angry at her for the (horrible) choices she was making.

“Hey.” I smiled, looking at Fox as he walked around the counter himself and put his bag on the floor.

“Hey,” he returned, looking a little disheveled in appearance.

“You okay?” I asked curiously.

He nodded with a small smile. “Yeah, just a little winded,” he smirked. “The team went for a run today.”

“Fox gets tired? Impossible,” I commented incredulously.

“Shut up,” he muttered, shoving my lightly.

A muffled pattern of vibrations went off. I watched as Fox felt his pants for his phone, finally finding it and checking the screen. His jaw clenched as he pressed a button and placed it on the counter.

“Not
gonna answer it?”

“Nah,” he shook his head. “I’m at work. Technically,” he said as his lips formed a grin and he closed in on me. I was backed against the counter and trapped between both his yummy arms while he lowered his face to mine. I grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him the rest of the way, molding our lips together. His hands gripped my waist and he angled his face to accommodate the kiss; I did the same. I pulled him closer, letting the need to be close to him take over. With my arms around his neck and my body arching into his, I felt his warm fingers slip under the hem of my uniform shirt and trace patterns on my skin. I moaned at the sensation, wanting more of it. I needed friction. I needed warmth. I wanted–

“You’ve reached the Hartford Red Cross Center, this is Emery speaking,” I said cheerfully, hoping I didn’t sound too out of breath through the telephone. “How may I help you?”

“Did I interrupt something?” a giggly voice inquired at the end of the line.

“Lily?” I scowled, frowning as Fox disentangled himself from me. His phone started vibrating again and he immediately pressed ‘end’. Nina called him over and he headed for her office while I remained on the phone.

“Hello?” she asked.

“Yeah?” I replied, “Sorry, um, what’s up?”

She chuckled. “
Oooh, Em, you’re getting bad. Making out
on the job
? I thought you were the responsible one.”

I smirked, blushing at her comments. “It’s not a job; I don’t get paid.”

“You don’t get paid to suck face with Fox Evans, either,” she commented, “Not that money matters in that situation. The satisfaction is enough for you, I assume?”

“Did you call to indirectly call me a whore or is there a point to this phone call?” I mused, noticing Fox’s phone go off again. Before I could stop myself, I looked over the counter to see who was incessantly calling.

Mom,
the screen read. I immediately moved away from the phone and focused back to Lily. Somewhat.
His mom was calling him? Or did he call Millicent ‘Mom’ now?

“Hello?” Lily asked, “You there?”

“Hmm? Wha– Sorry, I didn’t quite catch that,” I responded.

“Which part?”

“All of it,” I admitted, laughing as she scolded me on the other end of the line. Fox emerged from Nina’s office and grabbed his phone before heading outside and making a call. I turned in another direction so he wouldn’t see me watching.

“–
xing, pedicures, manicures, and of course, dress shopping,” Lily concluded when I tuned back in. It clicked that she was referring to getting ready for prom.

“Oh my God, right, we have what? Like a week to get all this done,” I gasped, “It totally slipped my mind.”

“Mine too; I was getting ready to plan some kind of anti-prom sleepover with you before Nick asked me,” she laughed. “We’ll make it work, and we’ll look
hot –
like sizzling. I promise you, Fox is gonna wanna eat you up.”

“Umm…” I paused. “Right, when is this all happening?”

“Tomorrow? I was thinking we’d go get some dresses and then do all the body maintenance after we know our colors,” she suggested.

Body maintenance? She makes me sound like a used car.

“Sounds good,” I nodded. “Wait – where are we going to get dresses this short notice? There’s no way I’m going to the mall; everything good’s already been sold and the last thing either one of us needs on prom night is to have the same exact dress as four other girls.”

“
Em, chill. Relax. I’ve already thought this out; my aunt can totally hook us up. She’s got this underground dress shop and it’s very chic. We’ll be unique, trust me.”

“Underground? Is it a legal business she carries out, Lil?” I chuckled, biting my lip and peaking over my shoulder. Fox seemed frustrated as he talked to whoever was on the other line.

“Oh, yeah, totally!” Lily laughed, “I just say it’s underground ‘cause it’s in her basement. She sells to a legit store, but she makes all the gowns in her basement first. So we’ll get first pick before she sends them out.”

“Oh, okay. So I’ll see you tomorrow, then.” I smiled as a whole new level of excitement churned in my stomach. \