The Road Ahead

Chapter Two: Naked Baby Pictures

Danny

When Gabby drops me off at my house, I walk in and it's fully decorated, yet empty. Prepared for my huge family and my three closest friends. My mother walks over with her finger in the air, motioning me towards the kitchen. She then proceeds to shove a spoonful of every food she has fixed down my throat, asking what they need.

"Not a thing mama. It's delicious as always."

She squints her eyes at me trying to test if I'm lying. She cocks her eyebrow, insinuating she senses a lie. "Okay fine," I say," the green beans need a little more bacon grease."

A smile stretches across her face, "Great minds think alike." She turns away from me, throwing a little more into the pot of green beans. I reach to grab some more but she slaps my hand away, "No. No more until it's time for dinner. Can't have you eat up all my food, now can I?" A smile spreads across her face as I turn to go to my room. She yells up the stairs, "Don't forget to wear nice clothes tonight, family is most important. I'm very proud of you son!"

I spend very little time in my room before the doorbell rings. I head down the stairs and twist the doorknob to find Tate.

"Hey man, come on in." I open the door wider so that he can enter into the foyer. "Your mom's cooking smells like fucking heaven." I shake my head laughing, "Naw man, it's just your white ass not knowing how to use spice." He walks ahead of me heading to my room where I neglect to put on anything but my undershirt and blue jeans considering the heat of the day.

"So, how's it going with Gabby? She has officially graduated. Meaning she's open to dating again." I say with what I hope sounds to be an encouraging tone.

He throws his head back and his body follows him as he flops onto my bed, "I just want her so bad, she's all I've wanted for so long. I mean not to be fucking weird or anything, but I think once we get together, we'll be together." I think about his words before a small laugh falls out of my mouth, "Just call it what it is man, you're in love with her. You love her. Love is the farthest from evil things."

He sits up to look at me while I sit in the chair in the corner of my room, "Are you already drunk or am I talking to Lottie the Great Philosopher?" I almost answer his question before the doorbell rings again and I peer out my window, "Speaking of the devil."

I run down to open the door for Charlotte and when I do she pushes straight past me and rushes up the stairs. I don't realize until I'm at the top that I've watched her hips sway all the way up. I shake the thought from my head. It quickly returns when she lays out on the floor of my room panting. "It's so fucking hot. I'm actually dying in this flounce." She motions to the dress she's wearing that reaches her mid-thigh.

She wags her finger at us, "Seriously, if my body temperature doesn't lower soon, y'all are getting a free show."

I joke with Tate, "Hey friend, would you mind turning off the AC?" It's only a half joke, but she never has to know that. "Ha. Ha. Ha. Couldn't have come up with a better line if I tried," sarcasm, her favorite. She scoots herself against the wall and stares me dead in the eyes. I always lose. She could stare for hours and never be affected. Her deep brown chocolate eyes bore into mine. Something about her stare is so incredibly intense. She says it's because she's a scorpio.

My eyes continue to stay open but begin to travel down her body, from her eyes to her lips, even further to her neck, but then I zap my eyes back up to hers. It's no news to me that I like her. I have, for a while now. Since freshman year of highschool. Instead of doing what I should do and asking her out, I whored around, trying to fill a Charlotte sized hole with innocent people who I didn't really like. Very shitty, I know. She was and always will be way too good for me.