17 The Way It Hits

"THE WAY IT HITS"

Peter Conway has infiltrated my dreams. He was there every time I closed my eyes. The touch of his lips still so fresh in my mind that I could almost imagine him there next to me.

After our date the other night, it took every bit of will power I had not to invite him inside. With my dad out and most likely coming home late, there wouldn't be anything stopping us from exploring each other even further.

Since we'd been "dating" all summer, we were able to skip over all the awkwardness that came with a new relationship. We just did what we'd been doing. Only with a lot more kissing.

I spent fourth of July with the Conways at the beach. We watched the fireworks. Peter left his trash grabber at home and held into me instead as we all pretended to enjoy the tofu hot dogs Sarah, Evan's girlfriend, brought.

He kissed me during the firework show. Aaron, of course, caught it with his camera. Another picture to add to the collection of Peter's firsts.

Peter came over to help my dad and I cook breakfast. My dad glared at him to keep up appearances as the overprotective dad, but even Peter could tell there wasn't any heat behind it.

He even joined me to have brunch with my grandma once. She was impressed with his charity work with animals. Since my granddad passed, she started taking in rescue pets. Mostly dogs, but a few cats, too. And Julio, the parrot, who knew every curse word in the book.

In between it all, I managed to finish the song I started about Peter all those weeks ago. I added the demo to the growing folder of things I'd send to Bea Lopez if she ever emailed me back and gave me a second chance.

Cherry suggested I send a follow-up email. Which I did with shaky hands and a voice in my head telling me it was too late. But I was into chasing things I wanted instead of running from them these days.

Now I sat next to Peter at a Paint & Sip event painting a forest landscape. It was teen night so we sipped soda. We still got to use fancy wine glasses though.

Cherry, who dragged us all there, sat next to Tristan one table over. She was extra bubbly because she decided to kiss Tristan tonight. I think me telling her about my amazing date last week with Peter might've convinced her to take the chance.

Most guys I knew wouldn't bother with a girl who'd wait so long, but Tristan was a good one.

"Alert the media," I said at the end of class. "We found something Peter Conway isn't perfect at."

I thought it'd be a "trust the process" moment with him. Where it looked bad in the beginning then eventually came together once he finished. I was wrong.

"It looks...rough," Peter agreed, squinting at his art. "But it's not that bad."

"Why is the forest on fire?" Tristan asked, coming up behind us. His own painting looked almost exactly like the instructor's.

Cherry diverted from the instructor and painted a pastel, candy land forest. My own painting looked like a discount version of the original.

"That's not fire," Peter said. "It's light from the sun being reflected off the trees."

I agreed with Tristan. "That's a forest fire. I thought trees were your friends."

We all laughed as Peter faked like we'd insulted him.

"I'm glad you find this funny." We began cleaning our station. Cherry and Tristan going to do the same.

"At least this proves you're not an alien," I told him. "Unless there's no art on your home planet and that's why you haven't been able to perfect it."

Before I could react, his hands were around me, tickling my sides. I laughed swatting him away. Instead he pulled me closer and kissed me. Short and sweet, but still made my knees jelly.

The four us walked out of the Paint & Sip. The sun still trying to cook us this late into the afternoon.

"We're heading to the pool, if you want to come?" Tristan offered as we headed to the parking lot.

"Isn't the pool closed after six?" Peter asked.

He grinned. "Perks of being the life guard. I have keys."

Cherry met my eyes. Hers were wide and pointed. And I knew exactly what she meant. Just before Peter could accept Tristan's offer, I jumped in.

"We actually have something to do."

"What--" Peter started. I elbowed him in the side.

My best friend wanted to be alone with her soon to be boyfriend so she could kiss him. The pool would be the perfect spot for their first kiss, too.

Before he could say anything else, I pulled him away to his car.

"Did I miss something?" He asked once we settled in the car.

"Cherry's going to have her first kiss with Tristan," I told him. I anticipated a text from her later that was nothing but blue heart emojis and ocean waves.

"Speaking of kissing..." He held my chin, pulling me over to kiss my lips. "I'll never tired of that."

"Good," I said before kissing him again.

He smiled at me when we broke the kiss. "You hungry?"

"Yes."

***

We ended up at a pizza place where were ordered a simple pepperoni pizza. Peter smothered his slice in parmesan cheese and after he let me try it, I understood why.

"How have you never tried parmesan on pizza before?" He asked, incredulous.

I shrugged. "We're a pepper flake kind of family."

He swallowed his food before asking, "Is everything okay with your mom? You don't bring her up anymore."

I picked a pepperoni from my pizza. Was it bad that I haven't given her much thought since she was last at the house? "She moved out."

"What?" He frowned. "When?"

"After the whole cemetery thing." I ate the pepperoni, but tasted nothing as I remembered that horrible day.

"You never said anything."

Shrugging again, I looked up at him. "When your mom left, you were sad. I thought I'd look heartless since I'm happy mine left."

"My mom was my best friend. Your relationship with your mom is...complicated. I don't think you're heartless."

He reached across the table, his touch feather soft as he traced a heart on my wrist. "Besides, you mention your heart several times in that song you wrote about me. So I know you have one."

He brought the song up at least once a day. It was equally cute and annoying. I rolled my eyes.

"My heart wants a refill," I told him, pushing my empty cup towards him.

"My heart will do anything to make your heart happy."

I laughed at his ridiculousness. "The parmesan is getting to your brain."

He smirked and took off for the soda machine with both our empty cups

My phone vibrated in my purse. I dug it out, wanting to know how Cherry's first kiss went. But it wasn't a message from my best friend.

We need to talk, read Daniel's message. Followed by a picture of my song book. His next message told me where to meet him.

So he did have my song book this whole time? If we weren't chased out the party early, I might've found it.

Glancing back at Peter, who was mixing Sprite and orange soda because he was definitely not of this planet, I wondered. If I'd found my song book that night, would we have ended up Cloud Creamery? Would I have met his brothers and been invited to bowling? Would we be here right now, a real couple?

Losing my sing book at the beginning of summer might've been a blessing in disguise, but now I had a chance to get it back.

"One root beer to your heart from mine." The amusement dropped from Peter's face when he sat down and saw mine. "What is it?"

The last thing I wanted was to get Peter involved in my stuff with Daniel. So I lied. "My dad wants me home early."

"Oh, we can leave now," he said, gathering up our left overs.

My stomach was in knots all the way home. Peter could definitely tell. Even after I lied and told him I might've over did it with the parmesan. I felt bad lying to him, but this wasn't anything he needed to worry about. I'd get my songs back from Daniel and be done with him for good.

He parked in his driveway. When I turned down his offer to walk me home, he knew I was lying. He didn't call me out on it as he kissed my forehead and reminded me that I could talk to him about anything.

I walked home alone, sneaking back out when I was sure Peter was inside his house. Daniel wanted me to meet him in the field. It was dark and I wasn't stupid, so I tucked a can of mace in my pocket just in case he tried anything.

Daniel's truck was parked at the curb in front of the field I used to get to Cherry's house. Daniel climbed out of his car, meeting me on the sidewalk.

His dark hair was hidden under a baseball cap. He had on a short sleeved shirt and I could see the four angry scratches I gave him when summer started. They were deeper than I thought. Good.

"Where's my notebook?" I demanded before he could open his mouth and say something moronic.

"I don't have it," he admitted. "I got that picture from your social media. I knew it was the only way you'd meet me."

I let out an exasperated sigh, turning to leave. Why didn't I pay closer attention to the picture? "Goodbye, Daniel."

"Wait," he called out. "I got something else you might want."

"Not interested," I shouted over my shoulder.

"Its about your new boyfriend."

That gave me paused. I turned on him, closing the gap between us. "Leave him out of this. Your problem is with me and my song, not Peter."

"No one's even listening to your song anymore more," he goaded with a gross smirk. "You're old news, Faye."

"You're an ass!" Seriously, what was I thinking ever being with him?

"Maybe, but I didn't write a list of things I don't like about you." He pulled a folded piece of notebook paper from the pocket of his shorts.

"What is that?" I wanted to snatch it from him, but I didn't know what kind of game he was playing.

"Show it to Conway and ask him." He held the paper out to me, and I felt bad for how fast I took it. "My brother did that day camp thing with him last month. That was mixed in with his arts and craft junk."

"You called me out here to give me a piece of paper?" I crossed my arms, staring up at him with narrowed eyes. "And you're giving me this out of the goodness of your heart?"

He scoffed, walking backwards to his car. "No. I'm giving you this so you can go write another break up song about someone else. Maybe people will stop spamming my accounts with those lies you wrote about me."

That made me smile. "I thought I was old news?"

"Whatever." He got in his car and drove off. Leaving me on the dark street alone.

I walked home, the note burning a hole in my pocket. It was trash. Daniel McGiffens gave it to me and he couldn't be trusted. Anything he had to say to me I should've immediately ignored. But when I got home and up to my room, curiosity got the better of me.

10 Reasons Not to Like Faye Moore

1. She's confrontational

2. She's been with a lot of guys*

3. She doesn't recycle

4. She's disrespectful

5. She'll probably write a song about me

6. She spent most of high school in detention

7. My mom wouldn't like her

The rest of the list was ripped off, so I didn't know what the the last three reasons were or what the star next to number two meant. It didn't matter. Peter wouldn't write a list like this.

That's what I told myself, even after rereading the list two more times. It wasn't like anything was a lie. Except number two. Three guys wasn't a lot and I only had sex with Daniel. Thinking about the night in his truck made me shudder with disgust.

Also, number seven didn't make sense. Peter didn't even talk to his mom, so why would her opinion of me matter to him?

Daniel probably got one of his buddies to write it which was why I didn't recognize the writing. Why would he stoop so low? Especially when he dumped me.

This list Daniel "found" was obviously a fake. I picked up my phone to tell Peter about it so we could laugh together.

Before I could text him, a video call from Cherry came through.  All I saw were teeth when I answered.

"That looks like the smile of a girl who just had her first kiss," I teased.

I could see her feet kicking behinds her as she giggled. "That's because it is!"

"Tell me everything!"

We spent the night squealing about kisses and boyfriends and I put Daniel's note out of my mind.

*********

Faye and Peter are enjoying their life as a real couple...

But of course Daniel had to come along and try to ruin it 🙄

Thanks to all you wonderful people for reading and commenting and voting 🥰🥰