𝐂𝐑𝐀𝐙𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓! | harry styles

𝐈𝐗

THE cabin becomes my sanctuary.

Sometimes she's there waiting, naked and playing maid as she dusts and moves all evidence of manly hunting things that 'ick' her out like the animal hides hanging on the walls and the old porno mags.

Sometimes she makes me wait for her, saying she just had to stop to get her nails done. It's a mind game, a mind fuck that she likes, but instead of doing them now to get under my skin, she does them because she knows I've come to love the anticipation of her.

It's like she thinks of me now.

With the scout visit, the obstacle course, state, and the big bicentennial celebration looming, it's easier for me and Lydia to pass each other coming and going. She's thrilled to be a part of it all, cementing her place in our small town society. She's busier than ever, making and changing wedding plans while starting to look for houses to buy once we're married. She'll leave a flyer on the counter, or her laptop open to a realty site, hinting that it's something I should be considering.

But honestly, I can't consider buying real estate with her right now. It seems so much more final than a wedding.

I shake my head the way I do to rid myself of things I don't want to think about as I sit with my father and Josh in the bleachers. The parade committee is busy decorating a donated pick-up in our town colors, the pick-up that will chauffeur Mayor Castillo and the homecoming queen, either Crystal or Evelyn. I know Evelyn could give a shit, but Crystal is really into it, texting Josh during practice to discuss what color her dress will be so he can get her the right corsage.

My father glares as Josh's hands fly over his phone, before he looks shamed and puts it away. "You know in my day, a girl would never… your mother would never contact a boy so much. That girl's parents should teach her how to be a lady."

I see Josh's fist clench, his mouth about to open when my father says the thing he always does. "If it weren't for me turning down the Packers, you'd never be living here and you'd never have met her. Maybe I should've taken it." He storms down the bleacher stairs with his hands jingling his change and walks the track to blow off steam.

"Fuck him."

Looking at my brother, I'm shocked. He's always been the one enthusiastic along with my father. Josh throws his hands out in front of him, gesturing towards where our father is. "He never turned down the Packers, they never officially offered him the job. Why do we let him continue to hold that over us? Like your surgery really made him stay. He wouldn't have stayed by your side in the hospital if he had been offered."

We sit in silence until Josh stands. "Come on, let's throw. I'm not ruining my chances of a full scholarship. I'm out of here come fall."

'Josh?"

He turns back around. "Yeah?"

"Do you want to go to O.U.?"

He hesitates and then shakes his head. "I want to go to Ole Miss."

Nodding, I stand. "I'll call them tomorrow and see if I can get them to fit us in."

We throw, enlisting Baldwin again because I truly don't want to look at Sullivan, and my father eventually comes back, yelling his thoughts across the field while Josh takes it all in silently but with a new bond in his eye towards me.

It comes over me then, an awareness, a shiver of something I can't quite put my finger on. A sort of peace, like everything is going to fall into place the way it's supposed to.

Whatever that is..

* * *

"Kiss me here." Evelyn points at the inside curve of her bare knee. I comply, my mouth lightly sucking the sweet skin.