The John Hughes Club

Chapter Forty Five

Just as I had made that promise, Chas kept his promise of meeting me after school. With rays of cooler sunshine causing me to squint, he is there waiting by the wall, surrounded by a halo of autumnal haze. Holding out his hand, he stands taller as I stride nearer to him, fixing a knee-weakening grin onto his gorgeously happy face. Hurrying my strides, my own hand is eager to meet his. Palm to palm, our fingers tenderly close around each other's knuckles, unifying our being back together again. "Had a good afternoon?" is what I begin our conversation with.

"My whole day has been good! My girl is back, it's good all round." Swinging our clasped hands, Chas is most certainly in a great mood.

Thinking back to the guilt I have been carrying since talking earlier with Ros, my casual steps come to a stop, causing Chas to stop in mid-stride. "I need to say something, and I need to say it now." Turning to him, my head inclines to where his alert eyes are.

"Okay," Chas warily replies, sounding and looking fretful.

Wanting to wipe the fret away from every appealing contour of his face, I wag my head with a warm smile. "Don't worry, it's nothing bad, but I just need you to hear me out about something."

Appearing relieved, Chas nods with a taut jerk of his head and his cool as hell dark quiff. "Okay, I'm all ears." Reaching for me, he pulls my hips nearer to his body, silently insistent that we are as close as close can be.

With stiff dignity, I begin, "Firstly, I'm glad that I came back. I'm glad that I'm here, with you." His possessive fingers now dig into my hips that he refuses to let go of, accompanied with one of his heart-flipping smirks. His hold on me, along with his adorable gaze and grin, could have me forgetting all of what I am wanting to say, if my determination weren't so strong. Using all of that determination, I go on, "Secondly, I owe you an apology. When I found out about my mum and your dad, I panicked. I panicked, and felt like I couldn't talk to anyone about it...not even you. Instead, I took it out on us, and I shouldn't have. For so many years, I had been judged for how I looked. Judged for being the girl with the dead sister. With our parents being together and us being together, I couldn't face the thought of being judged about that as well, so I ran...and I'm so sorry for doing that to you...to us." My focus on him becomes blurry, as tears begin to glaze my apologetic eyes.

Urgently yet gently, Chas captures the whole of my emotional face within his hands. "I don't blame you for anything, Mindy. All those panicked thoughts you were having, I had them too at some point. It's just I reacted differently to them, that's all. You ran, I stayed. However, you came back. You're here. You are here, now, with me. Right at this moment, we are both here, wanting the same thing." Tickling his thumbs back and forth across my cheeks, the edges of his lips appealingly lift into a cute smile. "I have missed you, Mindy. I hated being half of us, I missed being the whole us. My quiff has missed you. My eyes have missed their brown-eyed girl, and my lips have missed these pouty lips of yours." His thumb now brushes the bare softness of my warm and willing mouth, paying attention to their pink plumpness. Not removing his shining spheres from me, his one hand comes to rest upon his heart. "And this, it doesn't beat the same without you here."

My tears begin trembling on my eyelids, tears that are blended with guilt, regret, relief, longing and love—a warm and salty cocktail of my many emotions. This boy is so beautiful, inside and out, he's beautiful. Claiming him, claiming us, my arms curve around his body. "I have missed you so much, Chas. I love you. Please tell me that our parents won't come between us ever again?" Hugging him hard, I need assurance from the boy who has become the calming tempo of my heart.

Drawing his upper body back slightly, Chas again lovingly admires me from where he stands. "They'll not come between us, Mindy. You won't let them and I won't let them. With or without their support, we are happening. I know your mum thinks I'm just a boy who has some feelings for her daughter, but one day, she will see me become a man who is going to quietly always be there for you, while always loving you loudly. I want us to never forget this moment. The moment you and I vow to each other, that whatever happens, we're going to stick together. It doesn't matter how old we get, you Mindy Diaz, you'll always be my teenage darling."

Blinking up at him, I inhale the aftermath of our summer of misery, to exhale with rejuvenated determination and the overriding need to seal all of our promises with a kiss that I'm not prepared to wait any longer for. Grabbing the lapels of his leather jacket, my mouth crushes against his. I'm taking the lippy lead, devouring the softness of his surrendering mouth, devouring its warm willingness, reaching into the receptive recesses of it with my demanding tongue. Surrounding me with his arms, Chas deepens our kiss, deepens our promise to one another, using sweet swirls of his satin-like tongue against mine. We're not just a pair of teenagers openly kissing on a tree-lined street beneath a September sun, we're a pair of teenagers setting fire to the reasons why we can't be together, then pouring fuel over all the flames of why we can.

Content. Charmed. And just a little swoon-drunk on Chas, satisfaction purses my just-kissed lips. "I want us to sit down with my mum and your dad, to tell them what's happening between us." My mouth breaks into a confident smile, for everything inside of me is now overflowing with confidence after that amazing kiss.

Exchanging a subtle look of amusement with me, Chas indicates with a soft motion of his head that he agrees. "Before we call that family meeting," he purposely pauses, allowing time for his joke to have enough air time between us before chuckling when I promptly play-slap his chest for it being a lame one. "All joking aside, before we face your mum and my dad about us, I just want to go back to my workshop and hold you. We can talk or say nothing...I just want to be alone with you." In a wistful way, he caresses my cheek, encouraging me to want the very same thing.

Being on the same romantic page, I do. "Okay," is my sugary reply.

Some time alone will do us both good. After unnecessary time apart, we now need some necessary time together. Entwining our hands, Chas and I are entwining our everything—our hearts, our love, our commitment, and our stance on our relationship to our parents.