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Chapter 50: Together again
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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
Keeping Score Chapter 55: Under the boardwalk
I was beginning to feel antsy, so I pushed up from my chair and stretched, then leaned down to sprinkle a little sand into the enticing curve of Quinn's back. "Hey, gorgeous. Want to go for a walk with me?" She rolled onto her side and shaded her eyes with one hand. "Did you just put sand on me, Leo Taylor? Do you know it sticks to the sunscreen? It's a pain in the ass to get off."I reached down and grabbed her hand, tugging upward. "It just means longer in the shower, babe." With a leer, I added, "I'm more than happy to help you wash off those hard-to-reach places.""You're a degenerate." Her cheeks were flushed, though, and I knew she was turned on, too."And you love me for it." I pulled harder, and Quinn stumbled to her feet, landing smack against my chest, just as I'd hoped. She was wearing a black bikini that set off her tanned skin and showed off her curves. Her body was utter perfection: long slim legs, flat stomach and rounded hips ...an ass that was just right for grabb
Keeping Score Chapter 56: Operation Distract Quinn
NATE"It's got to be tough."I was zoning, so when Gia spoke as she dropped into the chair that Leo had just vacated, I was startled. She settled herself down, stretching her legs out in front of her."I'm sorry, what's tough?" I glanced at her sideways. "That. Them." Gia nodded toward Quinn and Leo, who were walking at the edge of the ocean, holding hands and looking like an advertisement for the perfect summer. "Seeing them together. It can't be easy for you.""Why would you say that?" I let my hand trail through the warm sand next to me, drawing designs. "Oh, come on, Nate. I know how you feel about Quinn."That stung a little. I knew Gia and Quinn were friends, and I wasn't dumb; I realized girls talked to other girls, and there was a fairly high likelihood that they talked about boys. But I'd never really considered that Quinn would share anything with Gia about me. About us. As if there were an us, which of course there wasn't. Not beyond the friends us, anyway. "Did
Keeping Score Chapter 57: Sometimes we have to move on
NATELeo left early on Sunday morning. He'd packed up all his stuff for college before we'd come down to the shore, and his dad brought it down on Friday night, so Leo could stay with us until the last minute. And by us, of course, I meant Quinn. The closer we got to Leo's departure time, the more they clung to each other and the more desperate Quinn's smiles became. On that last morning, we all stood outside in the muggy, hazy air, everyone making uncomfortable small talk and stupid jokes as the clock ticked on. Finally, Joe clapped a hand on his son's shoulder. "You better get on the road, bud. Long drive ahead of you. And what time are you supposed to meet Tate?" Leo was sharing the drive with another Carolina freshman football player, this one from Gatbury, the next town over from us. He'd met Tate Durham over the summer, through Leo's friend Matt Lampert, and they'd hit it off. Tate was one of the few decent football guys I'd met, and I noticed he seemed to have a good influe
Keeping Score Chapter 58: New starts
QUINNFRESHMAN YEARAUGUST"Are you sure you don't want me to drive over with you?" My mother gnawed on the corner of her lip, a habit I'd noticed had become more pronounced in the last few months. "It's not that I don't want you to be there, Mom." I rubbed her arm and smiled. "It's just that it doesn't make any sense. You have the meeting with the estate attorney, and there's nothing for you to do at the college. Gia and I are driving over together, Nate's already there, and we're just going to bring in my clothes and stuff. Unpack. You can come over tomorrow, for the parent crap.""Nice language, Quinn." She rolled her eyes, but her voice was mild. "But all the other parents will probably be there. I don't want you to feel like an orphan.""I'm not an orphan. Just fatherless." I tried to keep it light, but my mother winced. "I'm still not sure you're doing the right thing, though. Daddy wanted you to go to Evans. He was so excited about it.""Yeah, well ...that was before.
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