You and Me and Us | Muffy

Part 7

Buffy's POV

I click through the photos we've taken so far on Marty's camera, starting with the one of the starry highway that he took before we continued homeward tonight, finishing with the very first one of the horizon over the cliff. Along the way, I notice some I didn't realize he took, like the one of me looking up in the ring of trees. A smile spreads across my face as I see the pictures of us by the lake and remember being with him in that moment.

"What are you smiling about?" he asks as he steers the Jeep around a bend.

"I'm just really happy right now," I reply. "You have to send me these photos."

"I will," he says.

I sigh. "Now I've got to go deal with my mom. I probably won't even be allowed out of the house to check the mail."

"I'm sorry," he apologizes. "You were right. I shouldn't have convinced you to come with me."

"No," I oppose. "I wanted to come. And I don't regret it. I'd rather be grounded for life—which is a very viable possibility at this point—than to be wondering what might've happened if I had gone with you."

"To think," he says, "if I hadn't gotten that flat tire, you never would've told me you loved me."

"And you wouldn't have kissed me," I add. "I should've slashed your tires yesterday. I could've sped things up."

We both laugh.

"Fate took care of that for you," he says.

"I think fate likes us."

"How could it not? We're so damn good together."

He reaches his hand out to squeeze mine before returning it to the steering wheel. The warmth fades at his release and I stare down at where he touched me.

"You know, we could take a little longer," I suggest. "I'm already late. We could pull over for a bit and continue what we were doing earlier."

He grins at the proposal, but has enough sense to turn it down, saying, "Your mom will already hate me for keeping you out this late. Any later and she might not let you see me again."

I sit back in my seat. "We can't let that happen," I say.

"No, we can't."

The car turns into my neighbourhood, and I begin to recognize the parked cars as we pass them.

"When you came back to Shadyside, did you expect to be with me again, or was this purely accidental?" I ask.

He thinks about it for a couple seconds before answering, "I didn't expect it, but I hoped. I kind of figured you'd have a boyfriend. What about you? What did you think when you saw me get off that bus?"

"I believe my exact words were 'Oh, crap.'"

He chuckles at that and turns the wheel to follow the curve in the road.

"I missed you," I say.

"I missed you too."

We turn onto my street and stop moving in front of my house. I unbuckle my seatbelt and glance over at the building before turning back to Marty and leaning over to kiss him one last time before leaving.

"I love you," I mutter.

He smiles. "That's sappy."

That earns him a light shove to the shoulder and he laughs.

"I love you too."

"Good," I say with a grin.

I pretty much have to force myself out of the car. My eyes stay on him until I have to look away to avoid tripping over the sidewalk on my way up to my house.

I carefully open the door, but my attempt to enter quietly is rendered useless when I see my mother waiting for me with an angry glare on the couch.

"Care to explain what took you so long?" she growls.

I push each of my shoes off with my feet and step over into the living room, my stomach knotted in fear.

"I took a detour on the way home from Andi's," I lie.

My mom tilts her head. "The car was still here," she retorts. "Do you expect me to believe you walked?"

"I—um—"

"Buffy, I saw you get dropped off by some boy," she cuts in. "I saw you kiss him. What have you two been doing?"

"We just hung out," I argue. "Nothing else."

"How long have you been seeing him? Have you been sneaking out every night like this?"

"No, Mom. I only started seeing him on Friday."

"Friday?" she shouts. "I have a problem with you blatantly disobeying me to go drive around at night with some boy you barely know!"

"Mom, I—"

"No. Buffy, you are grounded for the next week. You are to come home right after school. Understood?"

I nod, tears threatening to fall from my eyes as my parents stand up.

"Go to bed," she orders.

Then I break down, crashing into the cushioned chair behind me, tears streaming down my cheeks. My mother's expression changes from mad to concerned as she watches her daughter cry.

"It was Marty," I utter. "He came back and—and I just . . . I don't know."

My mom doesn't speak, so I continue to explain myself between sobs.

"It's like there's this magnetic force pulling me toward him, and I just can't break it. Like he owns the air, and if I get too far from him I'll suffocate. I know I'm supposed to be strong, and I should be able to control this, but I just can't!"

My mom kneels down in front of me and closes her hand around mine.

"Honey," she says in a soft voice, "there is nobody in this world strong enough to stop what you're feeling."

"I love him," I confess. "I don't know exactly when it happened or how—but I know I do."

Then she hugs me and the tears from my face drip down onto her shoulder.

"Am I still grounded?" I ask, hoping she's changed her mind.

"Oh, yeah," she confirms.

"Okay." It was worth a try.