First Time by Meg Tilly

Chapter One
    Standing at the end of our drive waiting for...get this...Lynn to pick me up in her car ! Her car. She called me up on her cell phone twenty minutes ago. She was just pulling out of the Metro Toyota dealership in Victoria. And yes, I know, my driving instructor would say, “Talking on a cell phone while driving is unsafe behavior,” but she just bought herself a car, for Christ’s sake! She’s gotta talkto somebody, and who better than me? Of course she had to call me.
    So here I am, waiting for Lynn. Wondering if I have time to go back inside and get the lavender zip-up Juicy sweatshirt I scored at the after-Christmas sales. I doubt she’ll be able to get back to Sooke so fast, even going the speed limit. Not only that, but this wind seems to be picking up a bit, and the sweatshirt seems like a two-girls-riding-around-town kind of ensemble. It’s a casual, innocent, sexy look. There’s something about the way it fits that makes me look more well-endowed than I am, and then it has that ribbing that makes my waist look really small.
    That decides it. I sprint back up the drive, climb the porch steps, dart through the kitchen. I don’t bother taking my runners off because I’m in a hurry. Besides, there’s nobody at home to give me hell. At least that’s what I think, until I pass by the den and see a movement inside. I get that tingly jolt of adrenaline for a second.It’s Larry, my mom’s fancy new lawyer boyfriend, sitting behind mom’s desk, a bunch of papers spread out before him. According to Sondra, Mom’s best friend, “He’s everything a woman could want in a man. He’s smart, funny, rich and handsome. He’s the whole package.” And I suppose, if you’re a middle-aged woman, perhaps he is all that. My mom’s been really happy ever since they started dating, so I’m glad for her. It’s just, I don’t feel that comfortable around him. I want to like him, but I don’t. I wish she hadn’t given him the key.
    “Hey, Haley,” he says, standing up. He’s got his tie loosened and his suit jacket hanging over the back of the chair. “Where are you off to in such a hurry?”
    “Can’t talk,” I say, keeping my legs moving. “Lynn’s waiting for me.” I don’t wait for his answer. I’m not trying to be rude, but I don’t like hanging around him, especially when Mom’s not home. There’s something about him that gives me the creeps. Luckily he doesn’t follow me.Last week he did, right into my bedroom. Can you believe that? Hands casually slung in his slacks, dress shirt sleeves rolled up, leaning in my doorway, like he thinks he’s some kind of male model in a Brooks Brothers ad. Had some sort of bogus excuse about wanting to see the painting I did in art class. Like I would show it to him.
    I find my sweatshirt in the pile of clothes by my bed. That’s where I keep my favorites. Easy access. Don’t have to dig through all the mounds of stuff on my floor. Drives my mom nuts, how I have my room laid out. But really, she doesn’t understand. It may look chaotic, but it’s actually quite organized.
    Back down the stairs, through the house, don’t glance in Larry’s direction, even though he’s in the hallway now. I give him a wide berth, make a bit of a half circle. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because I don’t like him in my airspace. I fly out the kitchen door and am halfway down the porch steps when my cell phone rings. It’s Lynn.
    “I’m almost there,” she says. “Just passing the gas station. Are you out front?” It’s hard to hear her over the music she’s got blasting.
    “Almost.” I’m running full tilt down the drive. “I’m almost there. Okay! I’m here. What should I look for? What color’s your car?”
    “White,” she says. “It’s a white 2002 Toyota Echo.”
    “Wow! That sounds great.” Even though I have no idea what a Toyota Echo is. And I have to say, I’m kind of stunned that out of all the color choices there are in the