Heart Condition

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Second Home

It was a good drive from San Francisco to Mariposa; about two hours and forty-five minutes, so I wasn’t surprised when we stopped in a small town called Manteca that met about halfway between the two points.

            Sasha pulled in to a gas station, and looked over at me carefully.

            “You said you packed a dress?”

            I nodded, “I’m fairly certain my mom threw something nice in my bag; why?”

            He smiled, “Just curious. We’re going to stop up here for a second, okay?”

            My hands started to shake, and I tried to see if I could swallow my tongue without choking. Why was it now that we were alone in the car that I couldn’t stop thinking about how beautiful his hands were, and how badly I’d wanted him to touch me? I kept thinking about that pact we made, and how utterly fucking impossible it would be if Sasha and I were practically alone together for any length of time.

            I understood; I was sixteen, he was seventeen. We were both still kids, but damn it if I didn’t think about it. A lot. More than I should. And it came at the most obscure times: when he happened to glance at me in class, and my entire body would erupt with goose bumps; when he’d casually move my hair back from my face and accidentally brush my neck with his fingers; when he kissed my scar and I felt like Iron Man, the armor invisibly radiating through my body, under my skin.

            I nodded, smiling and sliding out of the passenger’s seat. When I reached the trunk, my hands feverishly reached for the zipper, securing the mystery item behind it’s teeth. The exhaling breath of the suitcase as it gave exposed the contents of my weekend.

            And sitting on top was the laced red Yumi dress that I’d bookmarked in a magazine and left on my desk two weeks ago.

            I lifted the fabric slowly from the other clothes, and tried not to expose it to Sasha. My mind was lost in thought; how did my mother know I’d need a dress? He must have told her something that night they talked about me leaving early. That wasn’t like Mom, to be sneaky. I mean, she tried, but I usually caught her before she could get away with it. Not this time.

            Sasha called from the front seat, “Here’s what I’m thinking…” I stuffed the dress back in my bag, yanking it shut as made his way to me. I looked up, and he smiled, “We can either go to the house, get cleaned up, and I can give you your surprise, OR we can go straight to the surprise now, and I can take you to the house after.”

            “Hm.” I pondered, wondering if my face was giving away anything; he’d die if he saw that dress. I decided then that I wanted it to be my surprise, even though I had no idea why I’d need to wear it to whatever surprise he had planned. We were probably going somewhere special to eat, a place that his parents used to take him when they lived in the hills. I asked, “If we leave now, what time will we get to the house?”

            “We’ll get to the house at about four,” He calculated, “Which would give you enough time to shower and get cleaned up, if you want.”

            I nodded, thinking back to the dress. Maybe I’d be better off showering and changing as opposed to throwing the dress on right beforehand. I replied, “House first.”

            “Good call.” He agreed, and we paid for the gas and hopped back inside.

            The further into the hills we went, the more I wondered where it was we were going. As any horror film has taught you, going up into the woods with your significant other leads to axe murderers and cannibalism. I promised Mom I’d call as soon as I had service, which was subpar at best when you reached over a thousand feet with our wireless carrier. You would think by now we’d be able to talk anywhere, but I left my laptop at home, so that nixed video calling. Sasha said they had a house phone, and his cellphone worked up there anyway, so we’d be okay.