Page 54 of Choosing a Forever
Talmage socks him in the arm.
Enoch starts wailing about the pain. “Lizzie,” he pouts. “I need you to kiss it better.”
“I would, but I wouldn’t want to over-excite you and have you come in your pants at this nice restaurant,” my best friend says, not sparing him a second glance.
“I love it when they’re mean,” Enoch groans.
What the hell is happening right now?!
Lizzie—bless her—helps shift the conversation by asking Kinsley about her science project, and Nathan, Enoch, and Talmage ask insightful questions. The rest of lunch goes by quickly, and before I know it, Talmage is paying the bill—despite my protests—and we’re making the half-hour journey back to my house.
Where Tal will be moving in.
With me.
And we’ll be alone tonight.
Nothing’s going to happen.
Even if part of me really, really wants it to.
Chapter 19
Talmage
14 years old…
“Don’t you think you’re too young to be planning a future with someone?” Jacob asks quietly over our biology worksheet.
“Everyone always says you’ll know when you find the one, so why shouldn’t I know Mack’s the one, even if we’re young?”
“You don’t even want totryto date other girls? You know when we get to high school there will be so many more options. You’ll have the girls from the other junior high to interact with. What if you meet someone else you like more than Mack?”
I shake my head. “Not possible.” There won’t be anyone I like more than Mack because Iloveher. It’s not possible to love someone more than I love her. The fact he keeps bringing it up is starting to irritate me.
“I’m just saying, I think it might—”
“Please stop before someoneelse hears.”
“I don’t want either of you to get hurt. You’re both my friends, and it would be awkward if things ended and I had to choose a side.”
“Good thing nothing’s going to end, then.”
I could castrate Enoch for the ridiculous comment at lunch. Acting like he’s not also a freaking virgin.
I’m so embarrassed he said it in front of Mack, even though I’m sure she deduced I was a virgin already. If I can’t even say a swear word, there’s no way I broke one of the cardinal rules of the church and had sex before marriage.
Am I a loser? Does that make me bland? Boring? I hope it doesn’t change her opinion of me.
Mack looked just as mortified as I was, though, and I can’t help but wonder if sex with me scares her. Is it a turnoff that I don’t know what I’m doing?
I would be more than happy to learn! I’d love to spend hours learning exactly what she likes—
Nope. Lose that train of thought.
If she doesn’t even want to kiss because she’s worried about blurring the lines, then doing anything more intimate would for sure be off the table.
Too bad the logical part of me recognizes that, but the rest of me doesn’t. I want to explore Mack’s curves. Create a roadmap over the hills and planes of her body. Figure out what other tattoos she has and learn thestories behind them. I want to press our naked skin together and bask in her warmth. If it never led to sex, then I’d be perfectly content, but I’m dying to know how her skin feels against mine—
