Page 19 of Another Love, Another Time

“Yeah. I can’t see. Where are you at?” I pull my phone out and turn the flashlight on. I point the light so that we can see, but I don’t want to go back. Not yet, anyway.

I want to feel her lips on mine. I hold my hand out to her, but when she goes to walk past me, I tug her back into my chest. There’s a tree behind her, and I press her into it.

“Auggie?” she questions.

“Riv, can I kiss you?”

She giggles. “When’s the last time you had your lips on another girl? I don’t want to taste some other girl’s backwash.”

I wrap one arm around her waist and lean the other against the tree. I lean in closer and brush my lips against hers. “It’s been weeks, Riv. Please. I need to kiss you. It’s been too long. Plus, it’s my birthday.”

She responds by pressing her lips against mine. I feel her arms wrap around my waist so our bodies are against each other. I know she can feel the hard-on I’m sporting; I have no shame. She knows the effect she has on me.

I press my hard-on into her, and she moans into my mouth. Just when I go in deeper, I hear someone call my name, and we break apart.

She giggles and says, “I think we should get back to your party, birthday boy.” With that, we intertwine our fingers and return to the party.

“Why were you gone for so long? Did River have to take a dump?” Logan asks with a knowing look.

Amber makes a snide remark about River giving me a blowjob. All her little friends laugh at the jab. Melissa is right there next to them, but River just rolls her eyes. She knows they’re just jealous. She’s used to it with Melissa.

Speaking of Melissa, the next words come from her, “You’re such a knight in shining armor, Auggie. Like always. I have to go pee. Are you going to escort me? I guess not since River is here. Let me guess. He kissed you out there. Don’t feel special, River. He does that for all of the girls.”

Yes, I have escorted girls out in the woods to watch over them, to make sure someone didn’t take advantage of them, but only when they didn’t have another girl to go with them. I have never initiated a kiss there except with River, and I have never kissed Melissa.

Before I can respond, River snaps, “Bless your heart. Thanks for your concern, but I don’t believe a word out of your fucking mouth.”

If you didn’t know River, you wouldn’t be able to tell that she’s about to lose it; River never cusses. That one slip could let Melissa know she’s getting to her. I hear a bunch of oohs and ahhs and oh damns.

River turns from the group, and I follow, not wanting to feed into Melissa’s drama. We walk back to the truck, and I lift her onto the tailgate. She looks around. I know she’s trying to avoid me, but I won’t let her, and she knows it.

“What are you looking for?” I ask.

I know she’s trying to calm herself down. “My water,” she answers absently.

Just then, JD, the guy Melissa has been hanging out with all night, comes up to ask River, “Is this what you’re looking for? I think it fell on the ground.”

“Oh, thanks,” she responds. Before she can take a drink, I grab the bottle from her and pour the rest of the water out. I reach for the cooler to get another one. “Hey! What was that for?”

“You just left it sitting there when we went to the bathroom. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

She smirks and coos, “My hero. Do you do that for all the girls, too?” She unscrews the cap and takes a big sip.

Before I can respond, she changes the subject, but I know the conversation is not over. “So, this is what a party in Hannibal is like? Huh.”

“Well, yeah. We kind of just hang out and talk, listen to music, drink, and dance.”

“Some of them should not be dancing.” She laughs to herself.

“You think you can do better?” I challenge.

“You know I can do better.”

I’m egging her on. I love to watch her dance, and I know none of the girls can dance like my girl.

“Play a good song, and you know I will.” She grabs my arm. “But you have to be my partner.”

River is not a trained dancer. I think she took dance for a few months when she was younger, but she’s a natural.

When we were younger, we used to watch dance videos, and she made Logan and me learns the dance with her.

Still, she always picked up on them so much faster.

It could be that we just weren’t interested, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that she’s a good dancer.

We have been listening to music from my truck’s speakers all night.

I hook up my Bluetooth and find the song I’m looking for.

“Buttons” by The Pussycat Dolls starts to play, and River is already standing by the fire, swaying her hips back and forth, and crooking her finger at me.

She turns her back to me as I reach her.

I grab her hips and follow the sway of her hips.

She reaches one arm back and holds on to my neck while her other hand is on mine, over her hip. We stay in sync for a few beats before she breaks away and turns to face me, but she leaves some space between us. She runs her hands through her hair while moving her body like she’s a damn snake.

Suddenly, she drops down like it's hot and bounces a few times, spreading her legs out before she comes back up again. She’s danced in front of me before, but it’s like she’s putting on a show for the other girls. She’s claiming me, and damn, if it doesn’t make me hard…

Standing, she presses her hands to my chest and slides them down until she’s at the hem of my shirt. Then, she slides her hand underneath and walks around me so she’s facing my back. She slides her hand around with her so that she’s always touching my skin.

At this point, I have stopped moving, unsure of her next step. She moves her hand away, and I feel her back against mine. She’s rubbing her bubble butt on me, and I start grinding against her butt.

I’ve had enough of following her lead. I turn around and move my thigh between her legs. We start moving our hips together. I know she can feel how hard I am. I feel like I have had a constant hard-on all night.

She leans in to whisper in my ear, “You may want to have one of those girls you take into the woods to take care of that.” She laughs, walking back towards the truck as the song comes to an end. I follow close behind her.

Everyone is looking at us. I never dance, especially at one of these bonfires. I reach Gracie first, and she says, “That was so hot, Auggie. Where have you been hiding those dance moves?” She’s fanning herself.

Kyle scowls at her and scoffs. “Thanks for making us all look bad.”

River is already in the back of the truck, where she is grabbing something else to drink.

I look at my watch and realize it’s almost eleven.

River and I have to be back home by midnight.

That’s new since I turned sixteen, but my friends don’t have to be home yet.

I want to hang out with River a little bit longer before we go back to my house.

I start telling everyone it’s time for us to head out and get the goodbyes over with. I try to avoid Melissa; she went out of her way to be mean to River. I’m pissed off, but she’s not having it.

“You’re leaving?” Melissa pouts.

I nod, not wanting to talk to her.

“Can you drop me off at my house?” she continues. “I rode out with some of the girls, and they’re not ready to leave.”

“Are you serious?” I blurt. “After how you treated River?”

“Yes, I’m serious. I’ve been drinking, so I can’t drive. What if something happened to me? What would your parents say, Auggie?”

I know she’s trying to guilt-trip me, and I almost give in. River will kill me.

Then, Logan says, “Melissa, I stopped drinking a couple of hours ago. I can drive you home.”

“Yeah, but I want to go home now. Auggie can just take me.”

“Then let’s go. I think I’m ready to call it a night anyway.”

Out of excuses, she has no choice but to accept Logan’s offer. I give Logan a grateful look, and he gives me a nod. He’s seen enough of Melissa’s antics to know what she was trying to do.

“Thanks, man,” I say. “I’ll give you a call tomorrow.”

I look at River and see that JD guy’s talking to her again. I butt in, touching her shoulder. “You ready?”

“Yeah. I’m getting tired,” she says as she yawns.

“I was seriously ready to hogtie Melissa if you agreed to take her home. I have had enough face-time with her to last me a decade at least. Thank God for Logan.” She waves.

“Bye, JD. It was nice to meet you.” She hops off the tailgate without a second look and heads to the passenger door.

I lift my tailgate back up so the cooler doesn’t fall out.

Once I’m in, I look at River. She starts, “Not that I’m not happy we’re leaving, but didn’t your mom say we don’t have to be home until midnight?”

“Yes, but I just wanted to spend time with you.” I smile almost shyly.

“Yeah.” She looks me straight in the eyes.

“Yeah,” I respond, and entangle our fingers.

“Where’re we going?” she asks.

“I thought we could park by the river.”

“It’s your birthday. We can do anything you want.”

I put the truck in drive, and we start in the direction of the riverfront.

We’ve been sitting by the river for about ten minutes. It’s a comfortable silence, neither of us feeling the need to talk. River finally breaks the silence, though. “Melissa is a dealbreaker for me.”

“Wha—”

She interrupts me by holding her hand up, and I snap my mouth shut.

“I know Melissa has a thing for you. She always has. God love you, but you are such a good person that I feel like one day she’s going to take advantage of that and manipulate you into doing something.

” She pauses and thinks for a minute. “Or has that already happened with her?”

“No,” I say immediately. I know it would put a wedge between River and me if I gave in to Melissa.

She lets out the breath she was holding.

“Good. Look, Auggie, you are the most thoughtful, selfless person I know, but you don’t understand girls.

We are manipulative, mean, and we look for weaknesses in other people to use to our advantage.

We have both seen Melissa do it multiple times with our parents. Like tonight.

Thank God Logan was there, or she would have weaseled her way into our night. I know you are friends. You hang out in the same crowd. You make sure she gets home from parties safely because you are a good person. I just want you to know where I stand.”

I squeeze her hand. “Nothing will happen with her. She knows that, too. We really are just friends. She only acts like that when you are around. It’s like you flip this switch in her.

But yeah, River, I know how you feel about her.

We’ve never talked about it, but I would never do anything with her. ”

She hesitates. “Can I ask you another question?”

“You know you can.”

“Are you still… a virgin? I know you’ve had other girlfriends, so…” She winces.

“I told you I wanted you to be my first.” I stop. Wait. Is she not a virgin? “Did you have sex?” That came out a little louder than I thought it would.

“No!” she shouts. “I’m not ready for that… yet. I just wanted to check in. I know it’s a lot to ask. I know I’m being selfish. I want you to be my first, but I also want to be your first. If that changes, will you tell me?”

“River, did you not hear me? I want you to be my first, too. And I promise I’ll tell you if I change my mind.

You’ll be the first to know. Just know I still want it to be you whenever you are ready.

” I take a deep breath and then exhale. “Okay.” I bring our intertwined fingers to my mouth and kiss her knuckles.

“We'd better start heading back to the house, or we are going to miss curfew,” I note.

“Hold on,” she breathes, and before I can think, her lips are on mine, and her tongue is coaxing my mouth open.

I have kissed quite a few girls, but kissing River is so different.

So much better. She pulls back too soon and whispers, “Happy birthday, Auggie,” as she smiles at me with nothing but love.