My Forever by Jolene Perry Page A

W here are you two?” Collette calls .
     
    “See you.” He raises his eyebrows at me once and sprints out of my room .
     
    Guess he’s not supposed to be in here. I laugh a little. I t’s no t like he could get me pregnant, even he was interested.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    11
     
     
     
    Monday morning I sit for a few minutes in front of the mirror , and with just a little work, I manage to fix my hair up the way Tracy did yesterday. I borrow her mascara and use some lip-gloss that Collette brought me from the store. I slide on her ballet flats and follow Tracy and Michael out the door.
     
    I get through the school day much better than on Friday. I decide it doesn’t matter what people are whispering about, and I’ll just keep doing what I know to do. I’m smart. I’m a good student. I can keep being those things .
     
    Drowning out gossip is pretty easy when you always have a friend nearby. The Mormon kids are still watching out for me. I finish my school day feeling better than I have since this whole mess started. Michael and Tracy are probably already waiting for me and if they’re not, I want to make sure they don’t have to. I hitch my pack up and step outside the school.
     
    “Dani!” I turn my head around to see Lucas standing in front of my school. Lucas , who’s supposed to b e in Fairbanks. My heart stops and then drops into my stomach.
     
    I try to regroup so I can form a sentence when we’re face to face. I shove my backpack further up on my shoulder, again, and walk forward. I have no idea what to say to him.
     
    “Dan i,” h e says more quietly as I get closer. He looks happy to see me , smiling widely. He surprises me by putting his arms around me and holding me tightly.
     
    I’m still in shock that he’s here. I think about how many times I’ve fantasized about being this close to Lucas Crawford. I breathe in deeply enjoying the closeness . When he pulls away, he does it slowly, leaving our faces together .
     
    “I’m so sorry , Dani. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” He moves his hand from my back to touch my face.
     
    I look down at another borrowed pair of Tracy’s shoes against the grey sidewalk. “I figured that if you wanted to talk, you’d call.”
     
    “Dani, if I had called, your parents probably wouldn’t have let you come see me again . A nd I wanted to see you again,” he says .
     
    “So we could have a repeat of my last visit?” I ask. I don’t mean for it to sound so snide. I can’t imagine him wanting more than that from me.
     
    His face turns to a scowl , but it looks like I’ve offended him. “I want to do the right thing here.”
     
    “Then give me the signed papers.” I’m afraid to believe he could want more. Could he want more? I don’t move.
     
    He tips our faces until our lips come together. He kisses me softly , and it tingl es slowly through my body then pulls back just far enough to talk.
     
    “But what if… What if we did this together? I mean, we could get married and have this baby and…” Lucas’s hazel eyes stare into mine . He’s older than me. He looks it. He looks like a man. He’s offering to take care of me.
     
    I can’t believe what he’s suggesting. What he’s asking of me. I want it. I want him . 
     
    He’s still smiling , and I stand frozen, my brain running in cir cles. This was my first thought. M y dream of dreams that I knew wouldn’t be able to happen. I feel relief for the first time since I crammed the test into my sweatshirt pocket. I’ve been saved. I can have my family back , and I get my life back.
     
    I start to smile back at him but then it stops. Lucas won’t understand about my Mormon friends , and I know right now, in this moment, I can’t give them up. What started out as a journey for my unborn baby has turned into a journey for me. I’m not able to let that go. Not now. As much as I want Lucas to be the right thing for me, he’s not.
     
    There’s