Come Back To Me

Chapter 1

Reid wraps his arms around me and squeezes me tightly to him.

“I can’t believe we start our last year of high school in a couple of weeks,” I say to him as we lay on a blanket in Reid’s backyard.

It’s early August, and it’s a beautiful warm day. There’s a slight breeze, and we hear the sounds of birds chirping happily, the neighbor’s dog barking, and some kids playing in the next yard over.

“I know, I can’t believe it either.”

He nuzzles his face into my hair, and I turn to face him. We lay there on our sides facing each other, and I am content here just staring into his bright green eyes.

Reid. My Reid. I love him so much, and he loves me. He has been my rock for about six years now. We have been nearly inseparable since sixth grade.

“What are you thinking about so hard?” he asks, seemingly amused by my intent stare.

He gently brushes my cheek with his fingers then leans in to plant a small, soft kiss on my lips. I smile in response.

“I was just thinking about how lucky I am to have you, and how much I love you,” I reply.

“I’m the lucky one, and I love you, too,” Reid smiles broadly.

“Oh come on you two, get a room already.”

Reid and I both jump, startled by the voice of Reid’s older brother, Gavin, standing a few feet away from us.

We hadn’t even heard him come outside.

“Oh hey Gavin, didn’t hear you over there.”

Reid sits up to look at his brother.

“Just got here actually, nobody was in the house. Hey Hadley,” Gavin says, lifting a hand lazily in acknowledgment.

“Hi Gavin, how are you?” I smile at him.

Reid’s older brother is nineteen years old and looks very similar to Reid; so similar they could be twins if it weren’t for the two-year age gap. However, where they are similar in looks, they are quite different in personality.

“I’m good.”

He runs a hand through his wavy black hair; it falls limply back over his forehead, a move that has landed him many girlfriends throughout the years.

“I unexpectedly got the day off from work, so I thought I’d relax at home for the day. What are you guys up to, besides being disgustingly gooey?” he teases.

“Just hanging out, enjoying the weather,” Reid tells him, ignoring the gooey comment.

Gavin always teases us, but he’s used to our open affection after being around it for so long, and Reid has long since stopped being embarrassed by Gavin's jokes.

“Where’s mom, dad, and Madelyn?” he asks, casually, as he plunks himself down on the blanket beside me.

“They’re at Maddy’s soccer game. They should be home around five. I think we’re barbequing tonight,” Reid replies as he fiddles with my hand in his, absentmindedly tracing my palm with his finger.

Gavin, shoulder bumps me, and I pull my eyes up to look at him.

“Are you staying for dinner?” he asks me.

I hadn’t thought of it, nor had I asked, so I shrug and look at Reid.

“Hey, don’t look at me, you know you’re always welcome, so it’s up to you,” he smiles at me in a ‘you should know better by now’ kind of way.

“I don’t want to intrude on family night,” I say, “I think I’ve had dinner here three times this week already. My mom might start to miss me.”

“Invite her over too,” Reid suggests.

“Yeah, mom would love that,” Gavin nods in approval.

Our mothers have become very close over the years, so it isn’t an odd thing for her and me to join the Thorne’s often.

“Okay, I guess I’ll call her then.”

I pull out my cell phone and dial her number.

A few hours later, my mother and I, and all of the Thorne’s sit around the patio table enjoying dessert after a fantastic barbeque spread of steaks, baked potatoes, and Caesar salad. My mom, Cathy, and Reid’s mom, Darla, are chatting animatedly over a few glasses of white wine about new recipes they found on the internet, their voices getting slightly louder the more wine they consume. Reid, his dad Don, and Gavin are talking about something I don’t understand, but I think it’s something related to Don’s job, and Reid wanting to pursue a similar career path as his father.

So I chat with Madelyn. She’s a beautiful, bright, fifteen-year-old girl. She is younger than me, but quite a bit taller at five foot six than my five-foot-two-inch self. She had cut off most of her long black hair the previous month into a cute bob because she said it was too hard to deal with when she played sports, and that’s what we discuss now. She’s a natural athlete and always has been, whereas I, on the other hand, am not so coordinated, and therefore never really got involved in any organized sports. I stick to things like online gaming, studying books about animals, and volunteering at the local animal shelter.

“So when does soccer season end?” I ask her.

“We only have two weeks left. But then I start basketball once school starts up again, so that’s good.”

She smiles, happily, as she takes a bite of her dessert.

“Wow! You sure stay busy. I wish I were more athletic, but I usually end up hurting myself.”

“Yeah, I know. Reid told me, Reid always talks about you.”

She rolls her eyes and makes a fake gagging noise, and we laugh together out loud, causing everyone to stop whatever they were talking about and stare at us.

“What’s so funny?” Reid asks us.

“Oh nothing, I was saying how gag-worthy you guys are all the time. Like seriously, it’s gross.”

Madelyn points to her open mouth and makes the gagging sound again.

“Oh I think they’re sweet,” Darla chimes in.

Don and Gavin stay quiet, and my mother rolls her eyes because I know that a majority of my time is spent with Reid, and when I’m not with him, I tend to talk about him a lot. Reid stands up abruptly from his chair, his cheeks turning pink, seemingly embarrassed by everyone’s focus on us.

“Alright, enough about us. Come on, Hadley, let’s get out of here.”

He holds out his hand, smiling at me. I stand and take his hand, and everyone starts laughing. We descend the porch stairs onto the lawn then make our way towards the back gate.

“Not too late, you two!” Darla calls out.

“Hadley, be home by ten!” my mother calls out, and I wave my acknowledgment. My mother has become laxer with my curfew since I turned seventeen, and she trusts Reid.

“Don’t worry Cathy, I’ll bring her back in one piece, I promise!” Reid calls out to her once we’ve reached the gate.

We go over to Reid’s car that is parked just outside the gate in front of the detached garage in the backyard. We hop into the old, red 1972 Chevelle, and pull away from the house.

Reid loves his old car. It’s a little beat up, but little by little, he and his dad have been working to restore it. Reid had saved enough money over the years to buy this car last year when he turned sixteen. His mom had wanted him to buy something newer and in better condition, but this was his dream car, and after many internet searches he finally found this car for a reasonable price, with money left over to start the first necessary repairs. After a year of having it, everything is nearly complete except the bodywork and a new paint job. As soon as we are a safe distance away from the house, Reid steps on the gas and takes off, spinning the tires in the process.

“Show off,” I tease him.

“You like it.”

He winks at me, reaching across the seats to stroke the back of my neck with his fingers, causing me to shiver.

“So where do you wanna go?” he asks me.

“Doesn’t matter, as long as we’re alone,” I suggest, giving him a look that hints at my intentions.

A slow smile spreads across his face, and he steps on the gas again, all of a sudden in a hurry.

“I think I know a place we can go,” he grins just as we hear his phone beep.

Reid reaches for his phone and looks at the screen before typing back with one hand.

"Put your phone down please," I chastise him. Reid tends to lose focus sometimes when someone texts him. It's been one of the few things we argue about.

"Sorry. It was just Cole," he murmurs.

"Yeah, it usually is, but he can wait."

"I know, I know. I'm sorry. I'll try to stop," Reid acquiesces as he sets the phone down again.

A couple more turns and a dirt road later, we are parked on a deserted road, at an opening to an overgrown field. The sun is finally beginning to set, and the sky is a wonderful mixture of pinks and orange, with the dark cobalt blue of night creeping in. Reid and I have crawled through the space between the front seats and into the narrow back seat, and paw at each other like we haven’t seen each other in days, and the windows are starting to fog up a little.

“Reid, make love to me,” I pant as he kisses my neck.

One of his hands is up my shirt. I’m straddling him on the cramped backseat, twisting my fingers into his soft hair. He pulls away from my neck to look me in the eyes.

“Here?” he asks, sounding amused. As hard as it is to believe, Reid and I have never christened his car before. s*x for us is a relatively new thing.

We had only started having s*x this past winter, after having waited what seemed to us like a very long time. Our teenage hormones had finally reached their breaking point, and on New Year's Eve while our families were out, and his siblings were with their friends, we had stayed in at his house, and brought in the New Year by losing our virginities. We always knew it was going to be with each other, so after some careful planning, we went for it. It had been a little awkward, but it was a very special night, and we wouldn’t change a single thing about it.

Since then, we have trouble keeping our hands off each other. After the first time, I knew what would probably happen, so I had promptly gotten on the pill, and I swear Reid has stashes of condoms hidden everywhere. We didn’t feel like becoming another statistic, becoming teenage parents, so we are as careful as we can be, besides abstaining, of course.

“Yes, here!” I pull at the buttons on his shirt.

“Awesome!” he chuckles, his face filling with glee.

He shifts, suddenly, so that I am underneath him on the small bench seat. We clumsily pull off the rest of our clothes as we make out, and finally, we are down to just our underwear.

“You’re so beautiful, Hadley,” he whispers in between kisses.

“You are too, Reid,” I reply, as I run a hand down his trim physique.

“I’ll love you forever, you know that?” he says as he brushes my hair off my face.

“And I’ll love you forever too, Reid,” I answer him seriously.

Reid smiles his beautiful shy smile and lowers himself down on to me, and soon we are entirely entangled in one another.

“Wow! That was like wow!” Reid pants, still trying to catch his breath.

I sit up in the seat, and he lays across it with his head on my naked lap, and his legs are bent since there is no way he could straighten them out in this small space.

“It was,” I agree.

This particular time seemed hotter, more intense than usual, somehow. Don’t get me wrong, it is always amazing with Reid, but this seemed different. Maybe we're getting better at this.

“I think I just had my first orgasm,” I giggle.

He looks up at me and grins.

“Is that what that was?” he asks, having seemingly noticed when it happened.

“It was crazy. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I knew I had never felt that feeling before,” I tell him.

“I thought something felt different for a few moments there. I think you might have left a mark or two on my back,” he sits up suddenly and gestures for me to check his back.

“I can’t see Reid. It’s too dark,” I laugh and playfully smack him on the back.

“Okay, okay. I’ll check later. I just don’t want to have to explain the marks to anyone later, you know?” He chuckles.

“Yeah, I hope not, that would be so embarrassing. I mean, I’m pretty sure our families already have a good idea of what we’re up to, but I don’t want them to have proof,” I muse.

“Gavin knows,” Reid admits.

I feel my cheeks burn at this information.

“What? Ewe, oh no! How does he know? Did you tell him?”

“No, I didn’t tell him, but he was looking for something in my room and found one of my condom stashes, and he guessed. I tried to deny it and told him I was just being prepared, but he didn’t buy it. He’s not stupid,” Reid explains.

“Ugh, doesn’t make it any less embarrassing. How am I supposed to look him in the face now?”

“Just like you have been. Nothing has changed, no need to freak out babe.”

Reid laughs at me, and pulls my hands away from my face; I hadn’t realized I was hiding my face in them. Reid sits up so that he can wrap his arms around me.

“Don’t worry about it, Hadley. Really, it’s okay.”

“I know. I’m still embarrassed, though. Hey! What time is it?”

I suddenly feel panicky. Time always flies by so quickly when I’m with Reid. It always feels like there isn’t enough time.

“Relax, it’s only eight-thirty, we still have an hour and a half before I have to have you home.”

Reid reaches around our feet, searching for our clothes.

“Well, in that case, I don’t think you need those.”

I smile and take the item of clothing Reid has in his hand and throw it aside.

Reid drops me off at my house at precisely ten o’clock. I watch him pull away. I find comfort in knowing that Reid is never very far away; just three houses away to be exact. I walk in a dreamy daze into the house where my mother sits waiting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea.

“Hi, mom.”

I smile at her, and she smiles back at me.

“Hi honey, you have fun?” she asks.

I smile, hoping that I don’t blush and give myself away.

“Yeah, we just drove around, not a lot to do around here. When did you get home?” I ask her as I go to the cupboard to grab myself a cup to have some tea as well.

“Only a half hour ago actually. I think I had too much wine with Darla, though.”

She rubs at her temples.

“Maybe you should go to bed then,” I suggest as I take a seat next to her and pour a cup.

“Oh, I will soon, I just needed to wait for you to get home first. And now that you are,” My mom stands and goes to put her cup in the sink. “Goodnight honey, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She kisses my forehead and walks out of the kitchen.

“Night, mom,” I call after her.

I sit there and drink my tea in silence when I hear my cell phone beep. I smile, already knowing who it is. I open the message, and of course, it’s my Reid.

* I miss you already

I grin at my phone screen and quickly message him back.

* I miss you more xoxo

*Maybe I need to come back to see you. I don’t know if I’ll last all night ;)

My heart skips a beat at that. I would love to be with him right now, but I don’t know if that would be a good idea.

*I would like that, but maybe we shouldn’t press our luck. I’ll see you tomorrow?

*Of course. Are you SURE you don’t want to see me now?

*Reid, I always want to see you now :)

I shake my head at my phone. He literally just dropped me off. I get up and put my cup in the sink, and message him again as I make my way to my room.

*I love you, and I’ll see you tomorrow xoxo

I open the door to my bedroom and switch on the light. I turn and almost scream, but catch myself. There, lying across my bed, smiling mischievously at me, is Reid.