“There he is,” she said, pointing down the hall. David was walking toward her, a smile on his face and sunglasses hiding his eyes. Laurel was running before she could stop herself. She slammed into David and wrapped her arms around him, squeezing as hard as she could.
“Well, hello,” David said, looking down at her questioningly.
After an hour spent visualizing his demise, David’s casual tone made hot anger bubble up in her chest. She grabbed the front of his shirt in both fists and shook him a little. “You scared me to death, David Adam Lawson! Where the hell have you been?”
David glanced down the hall toward the front doors. “Let’s get out of here,” he said, not answering her question.
“What do you mean?”
“Let’s go somewhere, have some fun.”
She glanced around before saying quietly, “Ditch?”
“Oh, come on. You have literature this hour. You’re getting, what? An A plus, plus? Let’s go!”
She looked up at him, one eyebrow raised skeptically. “You want to take off and ditch class to go ‘have some fun’? Who are you and what have you done with my boyfriend?”
David just smiled. “Come on,” he said earnestly. “Just this once.”
“Okay,” she said. She was so relieved to see him, it didn’t really matter where he wanted to go. She was game. “Let’s do it!”
“Great,” David said, grabbing her hand. His gait was as close to skipping as Laurel had ever seen. “Come on!”
She had to admit that his excitement was infectious. She found herself laughing along with him as they raced out to his car.
“Where are we going?” she asked as she clicked her seat belt.
“It’s a surprise,” David said, a mischievous glint in his eye. He pulled out a long strip of cloth. “Close your eyes,” he said softly.
“You’re kidding me, right?” Laurel said in disbelief.
“Come on, now,” David said. “You trust me, don’t you?”
Laurel looked up at him, his sunglasses reflecting her own face back at her. “What’s up with the shades?” Laurel asked. “I can’t see your eyes in those things.”
“That’s the point, isn’t it?”
“What, preventing your girlfriend from seeing your eyes?”
“Not you specifically.” He grinned. “Anyway, I think they’re pretty sweet.”
“I think it would be pretty sweet if I could see your eyes, David.”
Without hesitation, he slipped off the sunglasses and looked at her, his soft blue eyes open and earnest. All of Laurel’s worries dissipated and she turned to let him blindfold her. “I trust you,” she said.
Once the blindfold was in place, Laurel sat back in the passenger seat and tried to pay attention to each turn David was making, determined to keep track of where she was. But after about five minutes it became obvious that he was going in circles, so she gave up. Soon the car bumped against a curb and came to a stop. After a few seconds her door opened and David gently helped her out, one hand at her waist and the other on her shoulder to stabilize her.
“David,” Laurel said tentatively, “I hate to be a spoilsport, but I hope we’re someplace safe. After the other night…well…you know.”
“Don’t worry,” David said, his mouth close to her ear. “I’ve brought you to the safest place in the world.” David removed the blindfold, and for a moment the sunlight was blinding as it filtered down through the leaves, giving everything an ethereal glow. They were standing in a small clearing ringed by the very last of the autumn flowers — orange gloriosa daisies, touches of purple coneflowers, and some blue Russian sage. In the middle, on a patch of thick, green grass, was a blanket with a couple of couch pillows and several bowls of sliced fruit. Strawberries, nectarines, apples, and a bottle of sparkling cider with beads of condensation that glinted in the gentle sunlight. Laurel smiled and turned around to confirm her suspicion — just past the edge of the trees, she could see her own backyard. Safest place in the world, indeed.
“David! This is beautiful!” Laurel said breathlessly, stretching up on her toes to kiss him, glad they were just out of sight of the house, in case either of her parents came home for lunch — which they usually didn’t. “When did you do this?”
“There was a reason you couldn’t find me this morning,” he said sheepishly.
“David Lawson!” Laurel gasped with mock sternness. “What is the world coming to when Del Norte’s star student is skipping his classes?”
He shrugged, then grinned. “Some things are more important than my GPA.”
After a brief hesitation, Laurel asked, “Did I…forget some special occasion?”
David shook his head. “Nope. I just thought that we’ve both been under so much stress lately that we haven’t really had any good together-time.”
Laurel reached her arms around David’s neck and kissed him. “I think this is definitely going to make up for it.”
“That’s the idea,” he replied. “Have a seat.” She sat cross-legged on the blanket and he dropped to the ground behind her. “One more thing,” he said, his hands slipping around her waist, just under her shirt. Laurel smiled as he worked at the knot in her sash, but he eventually managed it and pushed her shirt back so her blossom could splay out behind her. “Much better,” David said. He poured them each a glass of cider and they lay propped up on the pillows, with Laurel snuggled against David’s chest.
“This is awesome,” Laurel said lazily. David held up a slice of nectarine; she laughed as he avoided her hands and held the fruit toward her face. She tilted her head back and opened her mouth. She leaned forward at the last second, her teeth biting lightly at his fingers. Then she let his hand go and pressed her mouth against his lips instead. His fingers trailed over the bare skin, now showing between the top of her jeans and the hem of her shirt, caressing her softly, gently, tentatively. Even after a year he always touched her that way, as if it was a privilege he wasn’t entirely convinced he had earned.
He tasted like apples and nectarines, and the smell from the grass had seeped into his clothes. Laurel often noticed the biological differences between the two of them, but today they seemed the same. With the smell and taste of nature all around him, David could almost have been a faerie.
“How is your blossom?” David asked, stroking it very gently.
“It’s okay now,” Laurel said. “The first couple of days it still ached, but I think it’s going to be fine.” She craned her neck, trying to see the damaged side. “I hate the way it’s healing, though. The ends are dry and brown. It’s really not very pretty.”
“But it was some major damage,” David said. He kissed her forehead. “It will grow back next year and will be as beautiful as ever.”
“Wow, next year,” Laurel said. “I can hardly even imagine next year. Sometimes it feels like this year will never end.”
“And last year — doesn’t it seem like ages ago? So much has happened.” David laughed. “Would you have imagined a year ago that we’d be lying here today?”
Laurel just smiled and shook her head. “I thought I was on death’s door last year.”
“What do you think we’ll be doing next year?”
“This same thing, I hope,” Laurel said, snuggling against him.
“Well, other than that.” He lay back, lacing his fingers together to support his head. Laurel rolled onto her side, her stomach pressed against his ribs. “I mean, senior year next year. We’ll be picking colleges and stuff.”
Laurel’s heart sank and she looked away from him. Ever since Chelsea had brought up the SAT tests the thought of her educational future had been a little hard to think about. “I don’t think college is in my future.”