Summer Romance #wattys2017

Chapter XLIII

 It was after six o'clock in the morning. She put on the clothes she had picked out then went to the bathroom to check out how she looked. She forced herself to look in the mirror. She still had a few bruises on her but they were fading. She turned around and decided she looked fine.

She walked up the hallway to talk to Tommy but he wasn't in the living room. She walked back to John's room and he wasn't there either. She went back to the living room and opened the door to look out. He wasn't on the porch either.

She went back to her room and put on her shoes. She went out the back door and to the treehouse. She climbed the ladder and opened the hatch. She stuck her head in and he wasn't up there either. He was gone. He had left and she had no idea where he was.

She went inside the treehouse anyway and looked for John's magazine. She pulled the books down and it was still in the same place. She took it off the shelf and put the books back. She sat against the wall by the window and opened the magazine.

She flipped through it slowly this time paying attention to how the women looked. She wasn't interested in what they wer doing. She wanted to change her appearance. She was interested in how they were dressed.

She was up there for about three hours before John came looking for her. He stuck his head in slowly, looked around then climbed inside.

"Where's Tommy?" John asked.

"I don't know. He was gone when I got up this morning." Shelby said.

"His things are gone." he said.

"His car's next door. I guess he went back home." she said.

"He didn't say anything to you about leaving, did he?" he asked.

"Nope." she answered.

"What happened between you two?" he inquired.

"Nothing. I told him I'm a virgin and he backed off." she said.

"You mean you scared him off." he said.

"I don't know if I scared him or not. I just know he didn't want to touch me after I told him." she said.

"He must really love you." he said.

"He didn't show it last night so I wouldn't know." she said.

"I'm serious, Shelby. That's the only thing that would make any man back off. He wants to make sure everything is perfect. Trust me. I know what I'm talking about." he said.

"And you know how?" she asked.

"I had a girlfriend once." he said.

"That's hard to believe." she laughed.

"I'm being serious, Shelby." he said.

"So am I." she laughed again.

He kissed her on the head and said, "Listen. It's not that simple to explain but I'm going to try. Ok."

"Ok. Tell me what happened." she said.

"I thought everything was perfect. I took her out to eat then to the movies. On the way home, I pulled off on a dirt road. We got in the back and she never said a word about being a virgin. She cried cause it hurt. She bleed on the seat. I thought that I had hurt her bad." he said not looking at her.

"Then what happened?" she asked.

"She didn't want to see me ever again. Two weeks later, she was seeing someone else." he said.