13. Tanner

THIRTEEN

TANNER

"Bunny! Where are you?" I yell, stepping through the door and taking off my shoes. The sun is just about to go down, so Grace and I decided to put together a little campfire and hang out outside. I just got done chopping wood and setting up a sitting area. She was in here getting together the ingredients for s'mores, but I can see straight through to the kitchen, and she's nowhere to be found.

I check the bedroom, but that's also empty. Making my way further down the hall, I stop when movement catches my eye in the bathroom. Because of the angle of the sink, she hasn't noticed me yet, and I watch as she stares at herself in the mirror. Her fingertips go up to her lips, where she touches them gently like she's never seen them before. She slowly glides down her chin, fingers wrapping loosely around her throat. And when she looks back up at herself, I don't think I've ever seen her so content.

Is that from me? Did I put that look on her face?

I can't take my eyes off of her as her hand continues its descent, running between her tits over her tank top, and down to her stomach, where she stops. I'm instantly hit with the memory of how her pussy looked as it leaked my cum, and as scared as that should make me, it just doesn't. I've never had sex without a condom before, always too worried that I would accidentally knock someone up and my football career would end before it even began. That thought didn't even cross my mind with Grace. I just wanted to mark her in some way. I wanted to make her mine, even though I know she'll never truly be.

At least I was her first. Her virginity will always belong to me.

"Oh, hey," she says, breaking me from my thoughts. "Did you need to get in here?"

I stare at her for a moment because I swear she gets prettier every single time I look at her, before I get my shit together enough to answer her question. "The, uhh—" I stutter, tripping over my words "Everything is ready outside."

"Oh, yay!" she says, hopping over to me and kissing my cheek. "Let's go before we miss the sunset." She takes my hand, yanking me from the room and down the hallway, like she always does when she wants to get somewhere fast and one of us is not as excited as she is. Only this time, I can't ignore the warm feeling that travels through my fingers, up my arm, and right to my chest as her hand squeezes mine.

I am so royally fucked.

I push all the messy feelings aside for now, remembering why we're here in the first place. I'm playing the long game here. Not for myself, but for Grace. We had sex. Now I'm going to give her the full princess treatment for the rest of our time together, because whether I like it or not, there's going to be a guy after me. Possibly many, and she shouldn't accept anything less than what she deserves after letting someone inside her body. Plus, I really fucking like hanging out with her. Holding her and kissing her whenever I want is pretty damn nice.

She plops down in one of the Adirondack chairs that I brought from the porch, and I start preparing the wood for our campfire. The sun will be setting in just a few minutes, and the cool New England air is nipping at our skin. The fact that we're on the water makes it even chillier, so I want to make sure I keep Grace warm while we're out here.

It takes me a few minutes to get the fire going, but when I do, I walk over and pull her up from the chair. She scowls, making me chuckle as I sit down where she was and pull her into my lap. She's so small that when she brings her legs up and curls herself into my body, she fits perfectly. I'm immediately warm all over, and I don't think it has as much to do with the fire as it has to do with the beautiful girl that's pressed up against me.

"Thank you for bringing me here," she says quietly as the sun begins to lower at the edge of the water. "Have you ever seen anything prettier than this?" I can see the look of awe in her eyes as she watches what's going on in the distance, but I'm having trouble tearing mine off of her.

"Never," I reply. It's the truth. I've realized in the last few days that I'm spending the summer with a girl who is beyond gorgeous, inside and out. A girl that I've known her whole life, yet I feel as though I'm meeting her all over again through brand new eyes.

She looks over at me, realizing that I'm not even kind of interested in the sunset, and gives me an annoyed look, but it's fake. Her cheeks pinken as she tries to hold back her smile, but I think she might be as smitten as I am because it eventually breaks through, morphing into the cutest little giggle as she cuddles into me. I tighten my arms around her, and we sit in a comfortable silence as the sun sinks down below the water's surface. When it's finally gone and the show is over, I use my pointer finger to hook below Grace's chin and press my lips to hers. She sighs contentedly as we make out, her fists gripping my thick, cotton hoodie as my hands ghost up and down her back.

Seconds turn into minutes, and although my body is begging me to carry her inside and tear off all her clothes, I don't. We just continue kissing and holding onto each other as we listen to the sounds of the fire crackling and the water lapping against the dock. My heart pounds against my ribcage with every moan that flows out of her and into me while we feed off of one another. This is the biggest rush I've ever experienced, and all we're doing is sitting in a chair together, hidden away where nobody can find us.

This is one of those moments in life that, even while you're still in it, you know you'll never forget how it felt. A moment that, as it happens, starts burrowing itself into every fiber of your being, latching on and becoming a part of who you are. Whether I want this memory to invade my thoughts years from now or not, I know it will. As much as I've been focusing on the fact that I want Grace to compare future boyfriends to me and the way I've been treating her, it's hitting me that I don't think I'll ever have another set of lips on mine that I won't wish were hers.

I move my hand into her hair, flexing my fingers and holding her in place while I devour her mouth, wishing I could make this kiss last forever. But I know I can't. I have to remember what the original plan was and focus on that so we can both go off to school in the fall and follow our dreams.

So, the best thing I can do is give these next few months everything I have until it's all over, and all I have left are the memories of what it felt like when she was mine.