I stand up and stretch my hand out toward her. She hesitates to take it, but once she does, I pull her up, and don’t let go right away. “I promise, you won’t.”
I’m pulling her toward my truck, ready to start the night. We have a lot to make up for, and I’m not wasting anymore time.
Opening the door for her, she seems to examine my truck. “I can’t believe you still have this. And that it stillruns.”
“You know I take care of the things I love.”
Her mouth twists, and I can feel her snarky retort coming, but I speak before she does.
“And ol’ Bessy here is my number one girl, she’ll run forever.”
Lily tries to hide her grin by ducking into the truck, and I smile. This is going to be the perfect night. I can feel it.
CHAPTER 21
Lily
Never in mylife did I think I’d end up back in Parker’s truck. This bench seat holds a lot of memories.A lot.
There are flashes in my mind of heavy breathing, sweaty bodies, loud moans. The way it felt when he touched me. How it felt to touch him.
But then I think about all the other girls that probably have had similar experiences in this very seat. My face scrunches as Parker climbs into the driver’s seat.
He looks over at me, the smile on his face dims. “What’s wrong?”
“Am I going to catch something from sitting here or have you disinfected?”
He turns the key, starting up the truck, and doesn’t answer at first. I’m about to ask again, or crawl out the second window of the night, but then he speaks.
“You don’t have to worry about that.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’ll let you figure that one out, Lil.”
He starts to drive and I’m not sure where exactly we’re going.
“Do you have another car for your hookups or something?” I goad.
“Nope,” he replies simply. I narrow my eyes in his direction even though he’s not looking at me.
I know I’m bringing down the mood. Normally Parker gives it back to me just as good as I do, but this seems to get to him for some reason. I decide to drop it, for now.
“Where are we going?” I ask instead.
He looks over at me with a smirk. “I told you we’re going to be teenagers for the night. We’re going to all the places we used to go when we were younger.”
I slump back against the seat and look out the window, watching the familiar places pass me by. It’s amazing how much this town hasn’t changed over the years, but also how it has. There are the staples, even with people coming and going. Some places getting new owners, but nothing feels different. Now being in Parker’s truck again, I really do feel like I’m transported back to being a teenager sneaking out to get into trouble.
Except the last time we did this Parker was my boyfriend, not my friend. And I’m pretty sure it wasn’t long before I left andeverything changed. Because while the scenery may not change much, my life sure did.
It turned on its axis when I came back after being away for a month and saw Parker with someone else. The image forever ingrained in my brain, his arms around her. The arms that were always around me, were no longer mine. And never would be again.
Yet here I am.
I told him not to make me regret it, but I worry that letting him in at all will have me regretting a lot.
Parker pulls into the small parking lot behind the local ice cream shop, parks and cuts the engine so we’re suddenly surrounded in silence.