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Chapter 46: Exceleration
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Keeping Score Chapter 47: Angst
LEOThe front hall of the Russells' home led into a formal living room, which I couldn't remember us ever using. But today, everyone was sitting there: my dad was the first person I saw, slumped in a deep green wing chair. On the sofa, my mother and Sheri, Nate's mom, flanked Carrie, who seemed to have shrunk in the less-than-forty-eight hours since I'd seen her last. Quinn's mom wore yoga pants and a huge sweatshirt. As I stepped into the hallway, I recognized the shirt as one of Bill's. Her hands were lost in the sleeves. Her sleek black hair, always so neat and styled, was tousled and held back from her face by a clip. She didn't look up or even react when my mother cried out my name and stood, her arms reaching for me. "Oh, my God, Leo. Thank God you're here. You have no idea-" She bit her lip, casting a glance down at Carrie. "We were worried.""I'm sorry." The response was automatic. I knelt in front of Quinn's mother and laid my hand on hers, which lay loosely in her lap.
Keeping Score Chapter 48: Being noble isn't easy
LEOBefore I could figure out what she meant, Quinn kissed me, open-mouthed and hard. There was nothing uncertain about her; on her lips I felt desire and desperation. Her hands tightened on the back of my neck. I knew that a stand-up guy, someone here to comfort his friend, would not take advantage of the fact that said friend was currently thrusting her tongue into his mouth, with her boobs, boobs that he'd been dying to touch again for over a year, teasing against his chest. He would not be getting hard and horny as hell, and he'd just hold her, so that nothing happened that she might regret. I was not that guy.With a sound that was combination groan and growl, I raked my fingers through her hair, holding her head in place. As hard as she'd been pressing her mouth to mine, I kissed her even deeper, angling her body closer against me. "God, I've missed your hands." She covered my fingers, still deep in her hair, with her own hands. "Missed them on me. Missed you touching me.
Keeping Score Chapter 49: Someone else's pain
NATEMy stomach growled, and that was what woke me up. I couldn't remember when I'd last eaten. We'd been just about to sit down to dinner the night before, when my mom had gotten the frantic telephone call from Lisa Taylor. I'd been in the kitchen already, pouring a glass of lemonade, and I'd glanced over at my mother's face when I heard her voice. "Oh, my God. No. No. Lisa-what-oh, my God. Okay. Yes, I'll head over now. Yeah. No, I know. I just can't-yes. I'll see you there." My dad had just come inside with a plate of burgers he'd been grilling outside. He was whistling, I remembered now. We'd had a relaxed Saturday after the excitement of graduation and the party over at Quinn's house. That was my parents' usual MO: they worried that too much fuss or out-of-the-ordinary activity would wear me out, make me more susceptible to getting sick. So a busy day was always followed by one at home. My mother had turned around, and my father saw her face. He'd stopped whistling, slid th
Keeping Score Chapter 50: Together again
NATEBy the time the sun rose, I could barely keep my dry eyes open. Every time I blinked, it felt like sandpaper scraping over my eyeballs. My mother, who'd been putting away a few things in the kitchen, touched my shoulder. "Nate. You need to go home and get some sleep. Dad'll drive you. He should sleep some, too, in his own bed instead of that chair."I shook my head. "I don't want to leave Quinn." I knew it was idiotic. I wasn't doing her any good, but the idea of not being with her made me panic. "I think maybe if you go get some sleep, she might, too. Just a few hours, honey. C'mon. I can't have you getting sick. I can't deal with it."That was what finally got to me. I nodded reluctantly and stood up. Quinn glanced at me without even a flicker of interest in her eyes. "I'm just going home for a little bit. I'm going to get some sleep, and you should, too." "Nate's right, Quinn. Why don't you go lie down, sweetie?" Lisa rubbed Quinn's back. "I'll get you tucked in. Com
Keeping Score Chapter 51: Remind me about normal
QUINNThe seven days after my father died were a blur of numbness. Later, I would look back and not remember much more than a few minutes here and there. People came to the house. My mother's family as well as my father's, people I hadn't seen in years, arrived in town. They didn't stay with us-except for my mother's sister, who did-but it seemed there were always at least three or four people at the house. And they all wanted to talk to me, or hug me, or feed me. All I wanted was to be left alone. Well, alone with Leo, that was. He never left me during that week, unless it was for brief snatches of time when he had to run home for more clothes, and even then, he made sure Nate was with me. The two most important guys in my life seemed to have come to some sort of meeting of the minds, and they were more at ease with each other than I'd seen them in years. The three of us hid out in my room as much as we could. When I had to go downstairs and be sociable, Leo held my hand in h
Keeping Score Chapter 52: This time it's different
QUINN"Babe, you awake?" Leo's voice was low and husky, murmuring against my ear. I snuggled a little closer to him. "Mmmmm. Kind of." My bedroom was dark except for the faint glow of the streetlight just outside. Tonight, for the first time all week, I hadn't dropped right off to sleep after I'd laid my head on Leo's broad chest."I talked to my mom a little bit tonight before they all left." His fingers moved in small circles on my upper arm. "She didn't push, but she suggested I give you and your mother some space tomorrow. She said you two need to talk about some stuff and make decisions."Panic welled up inside me, and it was on the tip of my tongue to argue. But I knew deep down that Leo couldn't stay glued to my side forever. We both had to figure out what was going to come next for us, just like my mom and I had to do the same."Yeah." I swallowed hard. "She's probably right." I turned a little, resting my chin on Leo's sternum, staring up into his face. "But don't go f
Keeping Score Chapter 53: Swing Sex Virgin
LEOThe day we graduated from high school, I'd been sure the summer that lay ahead would be full of two things: getting wasted and hanging with Matt, my best bud. It turned out I was wrong on both counts.Thank you, sweet baby Jesus.Instead, I didn't lose a single minute of my last summer of freedom. I didn't get drunk even once; I stuck to a beer or two if I was hanging out on a warm evening. And I hardly saw Matt at all, because almost all of my waking hours were spent with Quinn.Of course, a lot of my non-waking hours were also spent with her. What can I say? Life was damn good. It wasn't all laughs and sunshine, sure. We were all still grieving, missing Bill, and Quinn struggled to figure out what was coming next for her. I argued with her about giving up Evans, because I knew how much she'd wanted to go to college up there, but her rationale for choosing Birch instead made sense. She and her mom had compromised: Quinn would attend Birch, but she was going to live on campus
Keeping Score Chapter 54: Short Summer
LEOI was scheduled to report to Carolina the last day of July. Having a shorter summer made me acutely aware of the passing of each moment, and I didn't want to waste a single one. Not long before Bill's death, Quinn's parents had bought the beach house where they'd spent summers almost as long as I'd known them. Quinn had been meant to work down at the shore that summer, but she'd changed those plans after her father died. I'd given up most of my clients at the lawn service my brothers and I had run for years, so I was free to spend a day here or there with Quinn at the beach. It was Carrie's idea that we all spend my last week of summer at the beach house. I had mixed feelings about it; being down the shore would be fun, and in a lot of ways, it would be like old times: my mom and Sheri would be with us all week, and Mark and my dad would come down for the weekend. Days of sun and sand, nights on the boardwalk-I knew it would be good for Quinn. On the other hand, there wasn't
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