We both quickly start to go through them. The first one says, Dad knows.
If it’s even possible, my heart sinks and pounds at the same time while I quickly thumb through them.
Where are you?
I don’t want to call because they will hear me. Come home now.
Ashley???
They are waiting up.
There are more of the same, and they started thirty minutes ago.
“My parents know,” I tell Todd with my eyes locked on my phone, my voice sounding weak and strangled. It’s incredible the range of emotions I have gone through in the last five minutes.
“I know,” Todd says, still thumbing through his texts from Ry. “I’m sure that means mine will if they don’t already. Shit. I don’t know what to do.” He says that last part more to himself.
His eyes lock with mine as he runs his thumb over my wet cheek then he leans in and kisses me so deeply it takes me off guard. I wrap my arms around him and kiss him back just as deeply. A million thoughts are flying through my head, but I only care about one—Todd.
He pulls back and shakes his head. “I guess we need to go back.”
I shake my head and lean in to him. “Not yet,” I say, pressing my lips into his as I push his tie out of the way and run my hands down his soaked dress shirt.
He returns my kisses, running his hands over my hair and down my back, pressing the wet material into my skin, which gives me the chills. Then he pulls back and shakes his head again.
“I don’t know what this means, Ash. I’m already in so much trouble.”
I sink back into my seat. “I know.”
He slams his hand down on his steering wheel as the reality of the situation sinks in, and I start to play with the hem of my dress as we sit in silence.
He looks back at me. “What do we do? We’re soaked. We can’t hide that.” He reaches into his back seat and pulls out his EHS football sweatshirt. “Here, put this on.”
“Like they won’t notice this. It’s clearly yours.”
“I know, but at least you’ll be warm and sort of dry.” He gives me that crooked smile that captured my heart from the very beginning. “We’re doing this together. I’m going in with you.”
“Do you really think that’s a good idea?” I give him a nervous smile. I honestly have no idea what the right answer is.
He shakes his head as he runs his hands through his wet hair. “It’s done. I’m doing it. I need to face your parents at some point.”
Chapter 10: Meet the Parents
ASHLEY
My heart is slamming against my rib cage as we turn onto my street. I text Ryan, whose texts are still pouring in, to say we are on our way.
It’s bad, Ash. Dad is really pissed. Tell Todd not to come in.
My heart sinks. I know he won’t listen, but I have to try.
“You know what? Let me take the heat for this. You’re already in so much trouble with your parents. I can take this one.”
His eyes stay on the road as he shakes his head. “No way.”
“Please, Todd. Ryan says it’s not good, and you shouldn’t come in. I’ve never done anything like this before”—I smile to myself—“not that they know about at least. Let me take this one alone.”
“Not going to happen.” He emphasizes each word as he pulls up to my house where it’s even worse than we imagined—Mr. Hamilton’s car is in our driveway.
“Well, I guess my parents know, too,” he says nonchalantly, as if he’s talking about the weather. Meanwhile, I can barely hear him over the pounding in my ears.
“What do we do? We can’t go in there,” I say, one sentence flowing right into the next.
Todd gently grabs my face with both hands then locks our eyes. “Ashley, we have to. We’ll be fine because we’ll face them together.” The smile he gives me is so genuine, so relaxed, so sure. It gives me enough to hold on to, at least to get out of the car.
I turn to open the door, but Todd pulls me back.
“Wait one second.” He leans in and gives me the best kiss of my life. Our tongues dance around each other, and it makes me forget everything: the fact that we are soaked, that both of our parents are waiting for us inside, that I’m about to get into the biggest trouble I have ever been in. It all floats away.
I pull away just enough to ask, “What if they’re watching us?”
“I hope they are,” he says with a smile. I feel like I’m floating on a cloud. We are here, together, and that is all that matters.
After a few minutes of bliss, he finally pulls away.
“Okay, you ready?” He smiles.
“Um, I think I will be after one more kiss.”
His smile melts me, literally melts me.
“Let’s do this,” he says, intertwining his fingers with mine.
“What if I sneak back into my window and walk down the stairs as if I’ve been in my room this entire time and make them think they’ve all lost their minds?” I glance back at my front door and notice the curtains moving on the window that lines the door. They were watching. My pounding heart is back.
“Too late. Not to mention, how would you explain being wet and yet still in your dress?” Todd asks as he helps me out of the car.
My head is spinning. I see his lips moving, but I have no idea what he is saying. Feeling very lightheaded, I try to focus, but I can’t. Then his fingers squeeze mine, and it gives me a small bit of strength.
Before I know it, my dad is opening the front door.
I squeeze my eyes shut. God, I wish this was a dream—well, a nightmare. Either way, I would take it if it meant I could wake up and none of this was really happening.
“Good evening, kids.” My dad seems calm and collected.
The rain stopped or maybe it never rained here, because I see my dad’s eyes get wider as we step into the light, and he realizes we are soaking wet.
As we step farther into the house, I see my Mom and Todd’s dad sitting on the couches. Ryan is at the bottom of the stairs, a little winded, as if he just ran down them when he heard us coming in. He mouths, “Sorry. I didn’t know,” as he eyes Todd’s dad with the same horrified look we had when we realized he was here.
Todd raises his eyebrows to Ryan, as if he’s shrugging with just his eyes. They’re having an unspoken conversation from across the room. Then Todd turns to my dad.
“Mr. Taylor, we’re very sorry.” I feel Todd’s body brush against my elbow, making it clear he’s right behind me both physically and emotionally.
I notice the look on my dad’s face change the second he notices Todd’s black eye. I think he missed it initially because he was taken aback by the fact that we are dripping wet, especially Todd. At least I have his sweatshirt on.
“What happened to your eye, son?” My dad seems to have lost his original train of thought. He’s sidetracked, but in a bad way.
“It was a small misunderstanding, sir,” Todd answers.
“There seem to be a lot of misunderstandings lately.” My dad eyes me with a questioning look then turns and lifts his chin to Ryan. “Did you have anything to do with this ‘misunderstanding’?” He mock quotes the word, his calm façade starting to crack.
Ryan smiles and shakes his head. “Me? No. Well, maybe.”
Todd’s dad clears his throat as he stands up to join my dad.
“This is what I was talking about, Frank.” His eyes scan Todd with disgust. “This among other things.” Then he turns his full attention to Todd. “This is exactly why you weren’t supposed to be out tonight, but you couldn’t listen, not for one night.” Mr. H. is turning bright red. I have never seen him lose his composure like this.