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‘Yeah …’ He was breathing heavy, and it onderful I did this to him, she told herself
‘Do you think …’ he said
‘What?’ He probably thought they should stop No, she thought, no, I don’t think Don’t think, Park
‘Do you think we should … don’t think I’et in the back seat?’
She pushed off of hilorious
Not even a second later, Park landed on top of her
Park
She felt so good underneath, even better than he’d expected (And he’d expected her to feel like heaven, plus nirvana, plus that scene in Willy Wonka where Charlie starts to fly) Park was breathing so hard, he couldn’t get any air
It seeood to Eleanor as it did to hiirl in a Prince video If Eleanor was feeling anything like what he was feeling, hoere they ever supposed to stop?
He pulled her shirt up over her head
‘Bruce Lee,’ she whispered
‘What?’ That didn’t seeuy Bruce Lee’
‘Oh …’ He laughed, he couldn’t help it
‘Okay I’ll give you Bruce Lee …’
She arched her back and he closed his eyes
He’d never get enough of her
CHAPTER 46
Eleanor
Richie’s truck was in the driveway, but the whole house was dark, thank God Eleanor was sure that soive her away Her hair Her shirt Herin the alley for a while, in the front seat, just holding hands and feeling whiplashed At least, that’s how Eleanor felt It wasn’t that she and Park had gone too far, necessarily – but they’d gone a whole lot farther than she’d been prepared for She’d never expected to have a love scene straight out of a Judy Bluh two Bon Jovi songs without even touching the radio Eleanor had left a mark on his shoulder, but you couldn’t see it anymore
This was her mom’s fault
If Eleanor were allowed to have normal rela-tionships with boys, she wouldn’t have felt like she had to hit a home run the very first time she ended up in the back seat of a car – she wouldn’t have felt like itthese stupid baseball metaphors)
It hadn’t been a home run, anyway They’d stopped at second base (At least, she thought it was second base She’d heard conflicting defini-tions for the bases) Still …
It onderful
So wonderful that she wasn’t sure how they’d survive never doing it again
‘I should go in,’ she said to Park, after they’d been sitting in the car a half-hour or more ‘I’m usually hoo of her hand
‘Okay,’ she said ‘We’re … okay, right?’
He looked up then His hair had flattened out, and it fell in his eyes He looked concerned
‘Yeah,’ he said ‘Oh Yeah I’m just …’
She waited
He closed his eyes and shook his head, like he was eoodbye to you, Eleanor Ever’
He opened his eyes and looked straight into her Maybe this was third base
She sed ‘You don’t have to say goodbye to ht’
Park smiled Then he raised an eyebrow
Eleanor wished she could do that
‘Tonight …’ he said, ‘but not ever?’
She rolled her eyes She was talking like him now Like an idiot She hoped it was too dark in the alley for hi her head ‘I’ll see you tohed as much as a horse Then she stopped and looked back at hiht?’
‘We’re perfect,’ he said, leaning forward quickly and kissing her cheek ‘I’ll wait for you to get in’
As soon as Eleanor slipped in the house, she could hear the, and herEleanor moved toward her bedroom as quietly as she could
All the little kids were on the floor, even Maisie They were sleeping through the chaos I wonder how often I sleep through it Eleanor thought Sheon anybody, but she landed on the cat He squawked, and she pulled hi his neck
Richie shouted again – ‘ my house’– and Eleanor and the cat both ju crunched beneath her
She reached under her leg and pulled out a badly crumpled comic book An X-Men annual
Damn it, Ben She tried to soop The blanket felt wet, too, it was lotion or solass Eleanor carefully picked a shard out of the cat’s tail and set it aside, then wiped her wet fingers on his fur A length of oily-brown cassette tape rapped around his leg Eleanor pulled it free She looked down the bed and blinked until her eyes adjusted to the dark …
Torn coreen eyeshadow …
Miles of cassette tape
Her headphones were snapped in half and hanging frorapefruit box was at the end of the bed, and Eleanor knew before she reached for it that it would be light as air Empty The lid was ripped almost in half, and someone had written on it in bold black marker – with one of Eleanor’s markers
do you think you can make a fool of me?
this is ht underto find out is that what you think? i knohat you are and its over’
Eleanor stared at the lid and struggled to et past the familiar spill of lowercase letters
So like she was never going to stop
CHAPTER 47
Eleanor
Eleanor considered her options
CHAPTER 48
Eleanor
do i make you wet?
She pulled back the soiled blanket and set the cat on the clean sheet underneath Then she cli by the door Eleanor un-zipped it without getting off the bed and took Park’s photo out of the side pocket Then she was out theand on the porch and running down the street faster than she’d ever run in gym class
She didn’t slon until she was on the next block, and then only because she didn’t knohere to go She was alo to Park’s house
pop that cherry
‘Hey, Red’
Eleanor ignored the girl’s voice She looked back at the street What if somebody had heard her leave the house? What if Richie came after her? She stepped off the sidewalk into someone’s yard Behind a tree
‘Hey Eleanor’