The Summer Before

Chapter 4

"That's a new nickname," he says smiling at me. "Well follow me and we'll take off." I follow his lead towards where I'm guessing his car his is parked. We head back towards the old school building, except instead of going towards the entrance we head towards the side of the building, leading to the back of the school. I guess this is where everyone had parked to be here, as we walked further, we arrived at a motorcycle. This is not what I expected.

"Oh no, no, no," I objected once he offered me a helmet. "I am not getting on that thing Finn."

"Well it looks like you want to walk all the way back to Richmond then, doesn't it?" He smirks at me as he speaks. "As long as you hold onto me while I drive, you'll be perfectly safe Amelia. I promise." His eyes look so honest at this moment, how could I not believe the words he spoke to me? So, I do I nod my head and hop on the back on his motorcycle after him and strap on the helmet he gave me. With that he took off out of the parking lot and onto the main road.

A rush of adrenaline went through me as he took off, it was a feeling unlike anything I have ever experienced before. I suddenly felt like I knew what it was like to be a bird, flying freely throughout the sky every day. Feeling the wind push against your face, I can only imagine what it felt like to ride the motorcycle during the daytime. The drive to Richmond from Kipling is a nice and calm one, it's mainly all back roads and the occasional into the city main street, no highways or expressways involved. This definitely eased my nerves about riding on the motorcycle, I don't think I could feel this calm if we were on the highway. I look to my left and to my right to see consistent patterns of trees, the leaves are just starting to come back to life after the harsh winter months.

"It's beautiful," I say out loud accidentally.

"What is?" Finn asks me, shouting so I hear him clearly.

"Look at the trees, the leaves, flowers blooming, even the grass. Connecticut can be so beautiful sometimes."

"Well I can't really look right now while I'm driving, but yeah I guess it has its moments." I can feel him laughing with my arms around his middle. I smile to myself as we continue our drive through the beautiful countryside, until we finally reach Richmond. I direct Finn all the way to my small comfortable home, I thank him for the ride and begin to climb off the bike.

"Wait Amelia," I heard call behind me, I turn to look at him as he continues. "Can I get your number? I know it's cliché, but I'd really like to see you again, even if I have to drive to Richmond to do so." I feel my cheeks turn red at his words, sure tonight was fun but that's all I thought he figured it was, a night of fun.

"Umm," I begin. "Yeah, yeah that'd be fine. Hand me your phone." He grabs his phone from his back pocket, and I grab mine from my bag, and we exchange the two devices. Quickly I type in my name and number into his phone before handing it back to him. "There you go. And just so you know I fully expect you to message me first."

"Of course, your majesty," He says laughing at my comment. "Goodnight Amelia, tonight was definitely one for the books, thank you."

"I should definitely be thanking you for what you did on the dance floor Finn. I don't even want to think about what would have happened if you hadn't shown up." It's true, if Finn wouldn't have come when he did, that disgusting guy would've done much more to me than just cop a feel.

"Don't worry about it. I would never stand by and let something like that happen to anyone, let alone a beautiful girl like yourself." For a second time during this conversation my cheeks begin to grow crimson at his words. He really knows how to make a girl feel special. I wonder how many other girls he's done this with.

"Wow how many girls have you used that one on?" I say with a smirk dancing on my lips. I wouldn't be surprised if he had done this routine with others, he's an attractive man.

He looked at me with a gasp, placing his hand on his chest. "I am offended at your accusations dear Amelia. I'll have you know that I have never used that line on anyone but the beautiful girl standing in front of me."

"Well I apologize then," I say with a small smile. "You just seem like the type of guy to have a crowd of girls falling at their feet for."

He shrugs his shoulders, "If they do it's not like I was ever interested."

"Why weren't you interested? Most guys would love to be in that situation."

"Guess I'm not like most guys then," he says with a smirk playing on his lips. "To answer your question though, I guess I just never wanted anything from them. Sure, I've had some fun with some girls from time to time, but this year I've realized that it was a waste of time."

"Well, what do you want now that you've realized this?" I feel my cheeks heat up as the words come out of my mouth. I don't know why I felt embarrassed asking this, did I like Finn? I mean sure he was attractive, but I've known him for less than twenty-four hours, can you develop feelings that quickly?

"I don't know," he says looking at the ground. "What I do know is that I find you incredibly attractive and want to get to know you more. That is, if you'd like that too?"

"Yeah, I would really like that."

He looked back up at me smiling like an idiot. I was happy to see my cheeks weren't the only was heating up because of this conversation. "Well, good. I'm glad."

"Yeah, me too. I should probably get inside, it's almost 3am."

"Is it really? Wow time fly's..." He started.

"If you say, 'when you're having fun' I'm going to delete your number," I say laughing.

"Wow, that's intense threat there Amelia," he shakes his head smiling at me. "But in all seriousness, tonight was fun. I hope maybe we can do this again, maybe next time during the daytime."

I nod my head, "Yeah I'd like that. I'll text you, or you can text me, I guess it really doesn't matter who texts who..."

"Amelia," he cuts me off. "I'll text you in the morning, or I guess later in the morning. We can maybe plan something then."

"Yeah that sounds good," I nod my head in agreement. "Have a safe drive back to Kipling." He thanked me then got back on his bike, beginning his drive back down my street.