The Summer Before Senior Year

Riley(i)

I swear I'm the most annoying person on road-trips, especially when I don't know where we're heading to.

"Are we there yet?" I whined and as usual, Seth smiled at me before shaking his head. I had lost count of how many times I'd asked him that question. He knew way better than to 'surprise' me but however much I hated surprises, I loved that Seth was doing this for me.

"Aaaaaand we're here." he announced as he killed the engine. 

I opened my mouth to ask why we were at someone's house before Seth beat me to it.

"Don't ask me why we're at a house," he started which made me chuckle. My boy knows me well. "Just follow me alright?"

"Yes mom." 

I had just unfastened my seatbelt when I saw Seth at my side opening the door for me. Whoever said chivalry was dead clearly had some scumbag for a guy.

"Okay so this house is actually on sale right now so you have to be careful not to break or make an indelible mark on anything because my uncle will kill me." Seth said as he led me into the house.

"Your uncle?"

"Yeah, he's the one selling it but my mom and I come here a lot because of - "

He didn't need to finish that statement because I could see it with my own eyes - the most vast collection of flowers I'd ever seen in my life. All of them were in full bloom and they were so beautifully scattered around the room. It was like a little greenhouse, just airier. Then, right in the middle, was a blanket with pillows and petals scattered around the blanket and a picnic basket. There was an opening in the ceiling that brought in fresh air and gave a clear view of night-time sky. It was the most romantic thing any guy had ever done for me and it was perfect.

"You put this together?" I turned around to face Seth.

"Do you like it?" 

"What part of don't answer a question with a question do you not get?" I chuckled. "And yes, I love it."

"Good, because now I have to pretend that I made some nice meal when, in actual sense, everything in that," he pointed to the picnic basket, "is store-bought and from the fridge in my house."

"You're an asshole." I said laughing.

"Yeah, but you won't have it any other way." he said pecking my lips and leading me to the picnic. "Now come on, I've got some Oreo ice cream there that I don't want to melt!"

After eating, talking and laughing with occasional kissing, we had settled into a comfortable silence in cuddles when one question popped into my mind.

"Why don't you touch me?" I blurted out.

"What?" he turned me over to face me.

How to put this without sounding needy...

"Whenever you kiss me, your hands don't move from my face, hair or waist. People I know would usually grab my ass or my hips or let their hands wander too much."

"Is that bad?" he twisted a lock of my hair round his fingers.

"I just wanna know why."

"How about," he pretended to think, "I genuinely like you."

"That's not it." I smiled. "Tell me Winters."

He took a deep breath before he spoke.

"I don't wanna treat you like those other girls. You're different Riles, especially to me. One of the reasons I'm taking it at a snail's pace. That what you wanted to hear?"