Robin Wasserman - Lust

They dissolved into laughter. This town was filled with enough losers to cheer them up well into the next decade.

“How about the Lone Ranger over there?” Harper snorted, pointing in the direction of an old man decked out in a fifties cowboy costume, complete with mask and capgun.

“God, we have got to get out of this town before we turn into one of them,” Miranda declared. She grabbed the last barbecue wing and stuffed it into her mouth, then downed the rest of her beer.

“Tell me about it,” Harper agreed, finishing her own. They poured themselves more from the pitcher and sloppily toasted, clinking their overflowing glasses.

“To us!” Miranda crowed.

“To getting the hell out of this place!” Harper added.

“Tb living fabulous lives-”

“Without shitty guys dragging us down!”

“To being wild and crazy-”

“And independent, on our own-”

“Together!” Miranda finished triumphantly.

And they drank up.

Beth had stayed home from school that day. She’d told her mother she was sick, and her mother had no reason not to believe her. For why would Bethie lie?

She’d spent the day in bed, and it was almost as if she were sick-she was immobilized. Normally unable to sit still for more than a few minutes at a time, her mind always on fire thinking of the next task to be done, the next mission to accomplish, she’d spent the day tucked neatly under her covers staring aimlessly at the TV and flipping between channels.

Talk show.

Soap opera.

Dora the Explorer.

Soap opera.

It was all the same to her.

She knew she couldn’t hide in her room forever, battering herself with accusations and regrets, if only’s and what if’s.

If only I hadn’t gone to the meeting .

If only I hadn’t flirted with him .

If only I’d known what he wanted from me .

What if I wanted it too?

She’d have to leave her sanctuary someday. She’d have to face her life, face him, and soon.

Just not today.

There was a knock on her door.

“Beth? Honey?” Without waiting for Beth to respond, her mother opened the door a few inches and poked her head through the gap. “How are you feeling, sweetheart?” Her face was filled with concern, and Beth felt a momentary stab of guilt for lying, but beneath that, a warm glow of pleasure-her mother was usually too busy to remember that Beth existed, much less worry about how she was doing. In fact, Beth realized, this was the first time in months that her mother had even set foot inside her room.

“I’m okay, I guess,” she said listlessly, not bothering to look away from the TV.

“Are you feeling up for a visitor?” her mother asked, glancing over her shoulder into the hallway.

Beth sat up in bed and looked over at the clock. It was almost eleven-who would be visiting her? Usually she wasn’t even allowed to have guests in the house this late-her parents were afraid it would wake up the twins.

“I know it’s late,” her mother added, “but he says he brought you your homework, so I thought just this once it would be okay.”

He?

Beth nodded weakly, and her mother swung open the door all the way-revealing Adam, standing in the hallway with his hands behind his back and an adorable smile on his face.

As her mother disappeared and Adam came into the room, Beth panicked briefly, running her hands through her tangled hair and looking down at her ragged pajamas-she’d been in bed all day, hadn’t brushed her teeth in hours or brushed her hair since yesterday. She was a total mess, and for a second, she was tempted to hide under the covers until he went away, but then he came and sat down on the bed next to her and all she could think was: He came. For me.

“Claire already called to give me all the homework,” she told him-and then realized that she hadn’t even thanked him for coming. She’d only just gotten him back, and now, if her scarecrow appearance didn’t send him screaming in the other direction, her rudeness probably would.

“I know she did,” he said, before she could say anything else.

“Then why-?”

“I wanted to give you something,” he told her, brushing a lock of hair off her forehead. “Well, two things, actually. First, this.”

He leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips-and if her parents hadn’t been on the other side of the paperthin walls, Beth would have been tempted to wrap her arms around him and throw him down onto the bed beside her. But instead, she just kissed him back gently, breathing deeply. He tasted like cinnamon, and she knew it was probably because he’d just finished a pack of the cinnamonflavored gum he was addicted to. And she loved that she knew things like that about him. No matter how bad things got, she still knew him. And he knew her, better than anyone else.

“That’s not all,” he said, pulling away. She wrapped her fingers through his, and he squeezed her hand gently, and with his other hand unzipped his backpack, pulled something out, and presented it to her.

It was a red rose, beautiful and perfect. And it was threaded through a pink plastic flower ring-an exact match to the one he’d given her so long ago, just before their first date.

Beth laughed, and it felt like the first time she’d laughed in years.

“I’m still not marrying you, idiot,” she giggled. But she took the giant ring and slipped it onto her finger.

“I thought we’d start slow,” he said, just as he had all those months ago.’One date.”

“What are you talking about?” she asked, inhaling the sweet fragrance of the rose. It was almost overpowering.

“Come to the formal with me,” he asked.

Beth shook her head in confusion. “I’m already going with you,” she reminded him. “You asked me weeks ago.” She’d been saving up to buy a new dress, actually, but then they’d been fighting so much and had stopped speaking and eventually wasting all that money on a dress she might not get to wear hadn’t seemed like such a great idea. But now, looking into his earnest blue eyes, now she couldn’t think of anything she wanted to do more than look beautiful for him. To turn back time and forget about everything that had happened this month- everything . This weekend, this dance, it would be just the fresh start they needed.

“A lot’s happened since then,” Adam explained. “I’ve been an asshole since then,” he added.

“No, it wasn’t you, it was just-”

“Let me finish,” he interrupted quietly. “I’ve been a jerk, and now I know it, and I just want us to start over again, fresh. Just pretend the last few weeks never happened. So, Ms. Manning, will you do me the great honor of going to the dance with me?” He pulled the rose from her fingers and played its petals gently across her lips.

“Well, I’ll have to think about it for a second,” she began with a frown. His face crumpled, and she rewarded him with a bright grin. “Of course I’ll go with you.” She moved the rose out of the way and put her arms around him, cradling his face in her hands. She pulled his face toward her and kissed him, wishing that she could freeze this moment, that they really could pretend that the last few weeks had never happened and that the future would never come. That there would be no more arguments, that the tension that crackled between them would just disappear and things would be sweet and easy again, like they were tonight. And, she realized, she knew how to make that happen.

“I love you, Adam,” she whispered, her lips still just barely touching his.

“You too, Beth. Only you.”

And even though it was late and her mother could burst into the room at any minute, Beth kissed him again. The moment couldn’t last forever-but she wasn’t ready to let it end.