INTERTWINED

one

It was during the record-breaking rainstorm of 1959 in the small town of Castle Rock, and in the back of Eyeball Chambers beat-up Ford convertible, that she finally said it.

"I love you...." Lydia had whispered to him after they had made love in the backseat of his car that night, her soft lips forming into a lazy smile.

She sat next to him, naked. A pendant with what looked like the Virgin Mary hung between her bare breasts, his denim jacket covered her nude lower half. Rain pelted against the vehicle, Eyeball's heart thumped at a relaxing pace, lulling her into a sense of overwhelming calm as she rested her head against his shirtless chest.

Eyeball just smiled, reaching into the pocket of his jeans to pull out his creased pack of smokes. He offered her one first, it was only gentlemanly.

She took one from the pack, reaching through to the front of the vehicle, grabbing the Zippo lighter off the dashboard. It bothered her a little that he didn't say it back, but she pushed those thoughts away. She didn't want to ruin the moment.

Even though he wanted to say it back, he just couldn't. Eyeball didn't think he could or ever would be capable of loving someone. His parents and the people around him did a good job of showing him that love wasn't real growing up, and this girl he was having a fling with couldn't change his mind about love if she tried.

He couldn't fall in love with her, even though he knew he felt different about her than the other girls that kept him company. He shouldn't have even been spending any time with her really, just because his main girl Mary and him were fighting and on a break didn't make whatever he and Lydia were doing okay.

It didn't help that she was cousins with his kid brother's best friend either.

This was the last time he'd ever see her, he decided. This would be the last night he'd ever spend with her.

Or so he thought.

Little did he know, he would see her again. Months later, she'd show up at his doorstep and he'd find out the hard truth.

That he was going to be a father at the age of eighteen.