Our Kind of Love (27 page)

After work, Reign drives home to park her car,
then she hops on my bike and I ride out to the beach.

She snuggles in my arms as we stargaze, relaxing
to the tranquil sound of waves as they roll ashore. The salty sea breeze
clashes with the fruity scent of her hair as it blows in the wind. I gently
stroke her head; her strands are smooth against my fingers.

She exhales deeply before saying, “I wish we
could spend more time together. It’ll be like this when I start college, too.
You’ll be working during the days, and I’ll be in class. We’ll only get to see
each other in the evenings and on weekends. I wish we had more hours.”

“Yeah right,” I chuckle. “I’m sure you’d get
sick of me if we were together twenty-four seven.”

Easing out of my arms, she penetrates me
intensely. The pale moon casts a dim spotlight on her face.  

“I could never get sick of you,” she whispers,
then leans forward to kiss my lips. Her mouth is like a drug, a really sweet
one that keeps me hooked. There’s no rehab in the world that could break my
addiction. Her body is my heaven. Man, I think I’ve fallen hard for this girl.

Reign collapses into my chest at the end of the
kiss. She muffles something like “Please come back,” I’m not sure. When I lift
her chin and gesture for her to repeat herself, she shakes her head and smiles
at me. Then we go back to watching the stars.

An hour passes before we head from the beach and
I walk next to her with my bike instead of riding us back to her house.

Reign asks me all kinds of questions, about my
childhood, what I did in Georgetown, and if I was ever in a serious
relationship before.

“Why does that matter?” I ask, bumping her arm
lightly.

Her lips curve upwards with a shy smile as she
brushes back her hair behind her ears. “Because, I feel like…I mean…I consider
this, between you and me…” she glances over at me for an instant as she says
the word, “serious.”

“And?”
I prod
her to go on, finding her impeccably cute as she expresses herself.

“
And
, I want to know that you feel the
same. That you don’t have a problem with us being exclusive.”

I can’t help the broad grin that pushes its way
onto my face. “Reign, believe me when I say I’m all yours. I consider this
between us,” I gesture with my hand, “serious, too.”

A satisfied look masks her face. “Good,” she
mutters, slipping her small, soft hand into mine.

“This doesn’t have anything to do with me going
back to Haxtun, does it?”

“I’m just making sure you don’t have some hot
crush waiting for you,” she says jokingly.

I snort and dip my head back in a conceited way.
“I have several superhot crushes waiting for me in my hometown,” I say, messing
with her. “I was a soccer star in my high school, baby. Girls go crazy when
they see me.”

She scoffs and knocks my arm lightly. “Uh, make
sure you behave then, or I might just give Nate a call while you’re away.”

Stopping instantly, I widen my eyes as if
appalled. “You better not.”

With a mischievous grin Reign keeps walking down
the sidewalk, swinging her hips as she hums along the way.

I laugh short then hop on my bike, riding up to
her. I kiss her cheek and slap her butt as I past. She squeals and runs after
me, her beautiful laugh filling the night.

Circling, I ride back to her. She slows down and
looks at me in wonder, grinning from ear to ear. I’ve never seen a happier girl
in the world. Pulling up to her, she hops on my bike and I kiss her again, this
time sweetly on her mouth. Then we take off for her house.

I can’t deny it, clearly I really have fallen.
I’m in love with Reign.

Thirty
-
two

Reign

Someone shakes my arm. When I open my eyes,
Mary’s standing over my bed. She has a sneaky grin imprinted on her face, as
she places her finger at her lips and indicates for me to be quiet.

Nodding over her shoulder, she slants and
tiptoes out of my room. I climb out of bed and quietly follow her, going
downstairs into the dark kitchen.

“Come on,” she whispers, opening the glass door
out to the deck. I stride behind her as she walks down the concrete steps onto
the sand.

“What are you doing?” I ask as she stops and
stares at the dark ocean.

“I’m going for a swim,” she says, smiling
defiantly back at me.

I look at the ocean for a fraction of a second,
wondering why she’d want to go into such rough waters at night. Then I bring my
attention back to her, asking, “Now?”

Rolling her eyes at me, Mary proceeds to take
off her blue PJs, pulls out her scrunchie and shakes out her long ash brown
hair. “Yes, now,” she jeers, and then dashes off into the ocean wearing nothing
but her underwear. 

Mary dives under for a moment then pushes her
head back above water, laughing excitedly. “Come on, Reign,” she waves me over.
“The water’s great!”

I glance back at the house. Dad isn’t working
late in the shop tonight. He and Mom are fast asleep. They never let us go
swimming at nights and would be mad if they knew we were out in the ocean at
this hour.

“Reign!”

The insistence in her voice draws back my
attention. I don’t want to not be fun for Mary. She’ll get mad at me again.

So I take a few steps forward, keeping my eyes
fixed on her. I can hardly see her face in the darkness, but her head and
shoulders are outlined against the pale moonlight.

Mary dives under again and this time, she stays
beneath for a longer time before reemerging. She’s enjoying herself, laughing
and prodding me over.

I want to join her, be as cool and carefree as
my big sister. But I can’t drive Mom’s warnings out of my head.

“Don’t you ever go swimming at nights, you
understand me? Ever,” she’d told us. And I always listened to Mom. I liked
being her good girl, never getting in trouble. Mary hates that about me. But
when it comes to being the good daughter or being the fun sister, Mom wins over
Mary.

And as much as I know she’ll get mad at me for
this, I still back away from the water and tell her, “We should go inside
before Mom and Dad wakes up and find us gone. You know it’s not allowed.”

“Oh, jeez, you’re so boring!” she scolds me. I
can’t see her eyes but I know she’s seething, giving me her death glares.

“Mary, please,” I implore. “Let’s go back to
bed.”

“Shut up! Just go!” Her voice is laced with
anger, all because I refused. I don’t know why she switches on me like that
whenever I don’t want to do something she’s doing.

“You’re no fun,” she goes on, “always worrying
about Mommy and Daddy. Gosh, Reign, no wonder my friends joke about you.”

I’m angry. I want to yell at her for making me
feel like crap so often, but I don’t. I clench my fist and whip around.
“Fine!”
I grunt, marching up the sand towards the house.

Seconds later I hear a loud rush of waves and a
beckoning cry.
“Reign!”
Coughs… “
Rei
—”
Her voice sounds garbled now. There’s something wrong. I reach the steps to the
deck then turn back. She’s not there. I can’t see Mary.

Slowly I step back down on the sand, looking out
at the murky water. I want to call her name, but I don’t. I’m still so mad at
her.

Then her head pushes up. Mary’s wailing her
hands, splashing about. I yelp, realizing she’s further from where she was
swimming before. The water’s carrying her away.

“Reign!” she manages to yell. Her head goes
under again. Seconds after, she comes up coughing, fighting to stay above. It’s
too hard, as if the ocean is dragging her under.

Mary’s struggling to swim back to shore. She
can’t do it. But that’s crazy because she’s a good swimmer; she’s on her
school’s swim team.

“Hel—” Muffled coughs. Frantic splashes. “Help…”
Coughs and more coughs. “Re—” Coughs.
“Help!”

Oh my God! My sister is drowning. Why aren’t I
doing something? Why am I just standing here, hopeless, sobbing, not doing
anything?

Reign! Do something! Scream!

“Mom!”
I fly
out of the dream, crying. I’m drenched in sweat and my head feels like a
construction site.

Mom rushes into my room and scurries over to my
bedside, taking me into her arms. “Oh, honey. It’s only a bad dream,” she
comforts me.

“I’m so sorry…” I whimper, clinging to her robe.
“I should’ve screamed for help. I should’ve screamed for you.”

“Not this again,” she mutters, easing me away.
She levels her gaze on my face and says in the sweetest way possible for the
umpteenth time, “It’s not your fault, honey. It was a terrible accident.”

“But I didn’t scream for help.” I glance down at
my sweaty sheets and speak under my breath, “I didn’t even scream for her.”

She pulls my loose strands out of my face.
“Reign, you were in shock. It’s time to move on now, honey. You can’t keep—”

“I was mad at her,” I interrupt.

Mom widens her eyes. She dips her head a bit
then asks, “What do you mean? Mad at her for what?”

I get up and walk over to the window, moving the
teal curtains away to fill the room with more sunlight.

Then I swallow the lump in my throat and tell
her something I’ve concealed all this time. “I was mad at Mary that night. Not
just for being upset with me for not wanting to get in the water, but for who
she was.”

Mom stands and wanders over to me. “Who she
was?” she repeats, sounding confused.

I slump my shoulders as I face her fully. “For
being so wild and free, always making jokes and doing fun things. Everybody
loved her for that, but they didn’t love me. I’m boring Reign, too concerned
with what you and Dad think to try anything fun. I was…jealous of her.”

“Oh honey.” She cups my face with both hands,
her aged eyes penetrating mine. “You are far from boring. You’re a wonderful,
smart, and beautiful young woman, and your dad and I love you very much. What
your sister did that night wasn’t fun, it was dangerous. And if you had gone in
with her we would have lost you both in that riptide. Oh Reign,” She cloaks her
arms around me, hugging me tightly.

“I may not tell you this often, but even though
not a day goes by that I don’t miss Mary, I’m happy that you’re still here.”

“You are?” I sob on her shoulder. “You don’t
wish it was Mary here instead of me?”

“Of course not.
Don’t
you ever think that,” she shushes me. Kissing me on the side of the head, she
adds, “It would be wonderful to have both my girls together but I have you. And
you are enough. Let go of the guilt, honey. It’s time to let it go.”

Loosening her grip on me, Mom glances over my
face and wipes my cheeks. “I love you, Reign, don’t ever question that.”

 I nod and stifle back the rest of my
tears. Mom squeezes my arms, smiles at me, then swivels and starts for the
door. In an afterthought, she looks sideways and says, “Take the day off and
drive Micah to the bus station.”

“Thanks,” I mutter as she slips away, closing
the door behind her.

It’s Friday. Micah’s leaving today. A part of me
is nervous and fears he won’t come back, but I have to trust that he will.

Going back to stare out the window, I glance
down at the ocean. The waves are calm, not as fearful as that night. I inhale
and exhale deeply, then head to the shower.

Afterwards, I meander over to the dresser and
take out my blue one-piece with the thin straps and scoop neckline. It’s the
second time I’m putting it on since Ryan’s party, when Nate asked me if I was
twelve. Jerk.