She didn’t look at me as she answered. “It was the end of the year, last year. This year, whatever. Senior year. In my stupid research paper writing class. I mean, the whole point of the thing was learning to write for research, going past the block-outline method. There aren’t supposed to be any tests other than the papers themselves. So then she springs this idiotic mu-mu-multiple choice test on us, no rubric, no warning. No one got better than a C because no one had studied for it or even had any c-clue what the questions were talking about.” She was getting worked up just thinking about it. “God! That one test, that D-plus? It took me down four-tenths of a percent! I would have graduated with an even four point three if it wasn’t for that stupid f-fucking teacher!”
Damn, she used the F-word.
I couldn’t help laughing a little. “A whole four-tenths of a percent? That bitch.” There might have been just a little sarcasm in my voice.
Becca’s head swiveled slowly toward me, her eyes narrowed, her jaw set. “It’s a b-b-big d-deal…to m-mmm-me.”
I sighed. “I’m sorry, babe. That was a dick thing to say.” She snatched her hand away and drove in silence until I couldn’t take it anymore. “Becca, I’m sorry. I wasn’t making fun of you. I’m just saying, you still graduated with one of the highest GPAs in the entire state. I know it was a big deal for you, though. I’m sorry.”
“And that four-tenths of a percent could have been the difference between one of the highest and the highest.” She glanced at me. “Like how if you’d missed even one catch, it might have made the difference between breaking the record or not.”
I nodded. “I know, Becca. I was just being stupid.”
“Well, you are a guy.” She smirked, and I knew she’d forgiven me.
“Yeah, and guys are idiots. I don’t know why you put up with me.” I really didn’t, in truth, but I let it sit as a joke, knowing Becca would have a field day if she sensed that insecurity in me.
“It might have to do with what you did last night.” She licked her lips and winked salaciously at me.
“Which part?” I asked, deadpan.
She pretended to consider. “Hmm. Probably that thing you did with your tongue.”
I nodded seriously. “Oh, that. Well, I’ll have to make sure to do it again, if that’s why you put up with me.”
“You’d better, farm boy.” Ever since we watched The Princess Bride together last year, she’d taken to calling me “farm boy,” which she found cute for some reason. I let it go, because arguing was futile.
I slid my hand onto her thigh and cupped her sex. “Pull over, and I’ll do it right now.”
She clamped her thighs around my fingers, feigning horrified shock. “No! It’s broad daylight!”
“That didn’t stop you from letting me go down on you in the bed of my truck yesterday. It was daylight then, too.”
“Barely. The sun was going down. And that was at our tree. There was no one to see. This is a busy road.”
“So let’s skip dinner and head to the tree,” I suggested.
“I would, but I’m hungry. I never ate lunch.” She grinned at me. “We’ll go after dinner.”
She was as eager as I was, as insatiable. More so, if anything. I’d heard other guys complaining that their girlfriends never wanted it as much as they did, but I didn’t seem to have that problem. She was often the one trying to get me up for round two…and three. I couldn’t stop her some days.
Then her phone rang. There wasn’t anyone but me and her parents who would ever call her. Nell and Kyle were up north together, so it wasn’t Nell, and her mom and dad were at some fundraiser gala weekend in Washington, D.C., so it wouldn’t be them.
Becca stared at the screen of her phone. “Hmm. It’s Mrs. Hawthorne. I wonder why she’s calling me?” Becca fumbled a Bluetooth earpiece out of the center console, fit it into her ear, and touched a button to answer the call. “Hello? Hi, Mrs. Hawthorne, how are—what?” Becca’s face paled. “Are you f**king kidding me? He’s—what? No. Please, no.”
She hit the brakes and skidded off the road on the shoulder, her hand over her mouth, eyes wide, tears flowing, shaking her head in denial.
“Becca?” I shoved the shifter into park for her and touched her shoulder. “What is it?”
She didn’t answer me. “No. No. It’s not true.” She turned to look at me with horror in her eyes. “And Nell? Is she okay? Oh, god. Oh, god. Okay, we’ll be there. Yes, he’s with me, I’ll—I’ll tell him. Sh-shit. SHIT!” She ripped the earpiece out of her ear and threw it so hard it smashed against the dashboard.
“Becca? What happened?” Something bad was going on, and my stomach was flipping. “Why wouldn’t Nell be okay? Talk to me!”
Becca was sobbing, her head against the steering wheel. I lunged out of the car and circled around to the driver’s side, tugging open the door. Becca fell against me, and I had to hold her with one arm and unbuckle her with the other. I gathered her limp form in my arms and carried her around into the grass at the side of the road, kicking her car door closed behind me. I sat down with her on my lap and held her.
“Becca, you have to tell me what’s going on.”
She sniffed and choked on her breath. She looked up at me, and I could see the tragedy in her expression. “There was an accident. Up north. It-it’s Kyle. He’s—he’s—h-h-he’s d-dead.”
I didn’t hear her right; that was my first thought. I misheard what she said. “What? What do you mean? Kyle? Kyle Calloway?”
“Yes, Kyle! Our Kyle. He—he’s dead. A t-tree fell on him. Nell’s parents are on the way back from Traverse City with Nell. She’s got a broken arm, and she’s…she’s not talking.”
“How…I don’t understand. How can Kyle be…” I was unable to process what I was being told.
“I don’t know! All I know is what Mrs. Hawthorne just said. There was a bad storm, a tree fell and hit Kyle, and now he’s dead.” She struggled in my arms, squirming to stand up. “We have to go. We have to meet them at their house in half an hour.”
I was frozen. It wasn’t real. It wasn’t possible. He’d…he’d told me he was going to propose to Nell. Just this past Thursday he’d told me. I’d told him he was crazy-train, he was barely eighteen, but he’d insisted that he knew he loved Nell enough that he didn’t want to wait till they were older.