The rain was still pounding steadily on my windshield. The storm made the sky look deranged in a brilliant way, and it felt like the entire town was deserted.

 I would have thought our driving in silence was an extension of our new norm. All week we had aspired to ignore each other, pretending the party never happened... among other things. I thought there'd be a comfort or familiarity in that...but there was a  familiarity of a different kind present.

Sitting next to her in the intimate space of my car, getting to be responsible for her for a moment... It evoked the same feeling I'd been experiencing every time I caught her eyes on mine down the hallway. The way I felt when I grabbed her that day in the office, because I needed to in the moment... I needed her for some reason I couldn't explain.

It was the way I felt when she weighed heavily on my mind because I hadn't seen her in a while, and I didn't know how soon I would see her again. And the air we breathed in my car was thick with that feeling.

I turned onto her street slowly and became disappointed I was already there.

"I'm sorry. I haven't told you where to go." Her voice came out much slower and softer than when she was angry or sarcastic with me.

"I know where you live, July." And so did mine.

"Right. So that house, but three houses down instead, if you don't mind dropping me at-"

"Your grandparents'?"

She turned and smiled at me, nodding to confirm. I liked that smile. I couldn't tell if it was a smile of surprise that I knew that was her grandparents' house, or if it was just the way she looked when she talked about them, like she was excited she was about to see them.

"My moms on a work trip, so no one's home down there. The house is empty." I knew what she meant by that. She was simply informing me, but I couldn't help replaying her soft words over and over in my head as the rain continued to beat down on the driveway we approached.

An entire house empty, and two people who avoid being alone together at all costs. Although I had not yet consciously admitted the reason to myself, it was becoming abundantly clear in the moment and possibilities of the empty house continued to highjack my thoughts.

I pulled into their drive easily as there were no other cars parked.

"Are they not home either?" I inquired sincerely.

July looked around at the empty drive and securely closed doors and windows. "I guess my grandad isn't back yet. I know he was coming from Corsicana earlier today. My grandmother is still at work. I hope they're all okay in this rain." It touched me that she seemed so worried about them.

"Shoot. Reagan!" She said it flustered as she began searching through her backpack.

"What?"

"She has my house key. She took something... ugh, my vest! It had my key in the pocket. It was when she left me with... the turtleneck that just keeps on giving." She took a deep breath, and her hand was on the door to go.

"Wait. What are you doing? You're not waiting out here in this storm."

"I can go open the side window. No big deal. It's fine, and thank you, Adrian. Thank you for giving me a ride home in this weather. I really do appreciate it."

It was so sincere the way she thanked me, yet I was also confused as to why she was in such a hurry to leave with no way in the house. "Look, I'm not leaving until I know you got inside."

"Okay. I'll come out the front and wave once I make it in. But you don't have to wait." She had the car door open and closed before I could respond, and I watched her running until she disappeared on the other side of the house.

The first minute or two made sense to me, but then the thunder roared again. There was a patch of it as loud and startling as it was at the bar moments ago. Then a heavier downpour followed when I didn't think more possible.

I kept looking for her, squinting through the rain to see if I could see her waving from the front door or coming back from the other side of the house. Maybe she couldn't get it opened. I was starting to get worried.

Lightning struck and revealed a tall telephone antenna on that side of the house. I knew that couldn't be safe to stand next to. I raced out of my car to find her. I turned the same corner of the house I'd watched her turn and there she was.

She was standing there less than four feet from that stupid metal antenna thing, struggling to push the window up. She stopped to look over at me. She was soaked through and through. Her questionable turtleneck now rendered obsolete.

I froze there at the corner where I was staring at her. She was so determined to do everything the hardest way possible. She stared back at me from the window frame she'd had no luck with. Water dripping from her hair, eyelashes, and lips. I wondered what she was thinking of me in that moment. The thunder rolled around us signaling more lightning.

"Get away from that antenna! You'll get struck by lightning! I screamed it as loud as I could, but I may as well been whispering it, the rain was SO LOUD. I took a step toward her and screamed her name.

"JULY!" I demanded. She ran toward me as a shotgun bang of thunder shook everything around us. I couldn't say if she was planning on stopping just as she reached me, or melting into my arms the way she did... because I grabbed her. I grabbed her and pulled her to me.

Water dripped off her face onto mine, and before either of us could think better of it, my mouth was on hers. I kissed her hard, the way I had wanted to for a while, but hadn't acknowledged.

My heart was pounding in my chest as I held her close to me. I couldn't get enough. I wasn't even sure she was kissing me back at first; I just knew it felt like something I hadn't expected and had never experienced before. I loosened my grip slightly to look at her, my face still above hers. Her eyes were dark and stared through me when they opened. I felt her take an uneven breath and I leaned in, slowly moving her lips apart with mine until my tongue found hers.

She responded with her own against mine with slight trepidation and discovery that almost immediately transitioned to something sensual. It felt insane. Her lips were so soft. I was tasting her mouth, and I was kissing her like I'd never kissed anyone before. 

I pulled her into me tighter even though it wasn't possible for us to be any closer. Just the impulse to... I couldn't contain it. I know she felt my hands gripping her tighter, my arms wrapping further because she began kissing me vigorously back. I was out of my mind pursuing her mouth in mine and my entire body, that was soaked from the rain felt on fire. What was she doing to me?

The rain slowed as abruptly as it started, and the last drops were trailing down. The sky stayed its strange color and felt too bright out to be as late as it must have been. Every slight tug of her bottom lip from mine, every chase of my tongue after hers was something I wasn't willing to emerge from. I'm not sure how long we stood there ingulfed in each other, in a kiss that seemed it wasn't meant to end. 

With the rain gone it felt as if someone had turned the lights on us. The sound of a truck pulling up in her grandparents' drive confirmed they had.

We pulled away from each other. I'm embarrassed to admit I think I missed her immediately. I turned the corner to see her grandfather getting out of the driver's side of the truck now parked in their drive way next to my car.

The six-foot three gentle giant was not someone to be reckoned with, no matter how nice I'd heard he was. An instant wave of respect flew over me, and all I could see behind me was his drowned rabbit of a granddaughter in that ridiculously  see through turtleneck.

I thought as fast as I could and threw her my letterman jacket. I could say I don't know why I didn't think to offer it to her before, but that would be an obvious lie. July swung into the jacket and zipped herself up in it as she turned the corner behind me. We approached the driveway coming toward her grandad, and she raced ahead to grab his keys.

"Your back!" She smiled that same smile from the car up at him, and held her hand out pointing to his pocket. "I left my keys, and we got rained out at the golf course." With one eye on me, he tossed her the keys. She turned up the front sidewalk toward the house, shouting over her shoulder.

"Thanks for the ride!" Then she vanished into the house to get changed and dry I'm certain. I couldn't blame her for that. But, did she not want to introduce me to her grandad? I saw him smile as he approached my vintage Mustang. I liked the guy already.

He was a Robbie. Joe Robbie to be exact. I remember my dad mentioning that they were good people. He said they'd been here from the beginning practically and owned a good bit of land. He said Joe was fair, honest and didn't dabble in all the hype around Pure Pines. He didn't have to. He owned what he needed of it from hard-earned work.

He leaned against his Black Ford F1 50 truck and took his cap off surveying my car. He wasn't intimidating as much as he was self-assured.

"67?"

I nodded in proudly in response.

"That's ah' nice roadster you got yourself there. Looks like it got a good wash in the storm today." He stood up and extended his hand.

"Thank you, sir." I attempted to dry my hand a little on my shirt. "I think I did too." I smiled and shook his hand firmly. "I'm Adrian."

"Reed?"

"Yes Sir."

"Uh-huh. Your daddy does a good business over at his shop in Linden. He's a good man."

"Thank you, Mr. Robbie. I've heard him say the same of you."

"Your in debate with July and her swimming buddy I believe." I was confused for a moment, and not used to someone older taking an interest the way our parents did.

"Oh, yeah, Lane. He's my debate partner. I forgot he and July lifeguard together."

"Every summer since they could. She's a quite a swimmer." He took a second look at my car as he walked past me toward his house and raised a charmed smile. "I'll bet she enjoyed riding home in that one."

I looked behind him at his truck. Oh, right... a FORD.

"We're kind of Ford people around here. It was the best car you could get back in my day. Good to meet ya, son. Appreciate you gettn' her home safe."

I watched him walk into the house without looking back at me. Wow. It was like talking to a rare giant. He was kind, sincere, and scrutinized me all at the same time. Her grandad was sharp. I smiled to myself as I drove away literally hoping I'd made a good impression, and the guy liked me.

The man barely said three sentences and the conversation only lasted thirty seconds. Yet, he already let me know that if you drive a Ford you should to respect his granddaughter, that he knew who I was and when I would be spending any significant amount of time with her, which was debate, and that my own debate partner whom he knew better than he knew me, would obviously be looking out for her when it came to debate season just as he does every summer at the pool. Oh, yes, and that he knew my dad and where he worked.

I shook my head smiling again. That man was awesome. I hoped to be the same way if I ever had a daughter, although I doubted I could pull it off as relaxed and easy going as he did. You could tell a lot about July after meeting him.

It was obvious she thought her grandad hung the moon, only he thought the opposite. He knew she did. My own grandfather was a pivotal figure in my life. We just had a very different relationship than that.

As for that moment on the side of the house... it hit me like a tone of bricks when I replayed it. I could taste her sweet mouth and feel her soft lips on mine. I knew this was going to drive me crazy until I saw her again. Then I remembered my jacket. Bold move me leaving it with her. 

Balls in your court now, July!

I didn't see her at all the next day. I had forgotten Reagan and Lynn said the band had some marching thing in Mt. Pleasant. I hadn't heard from July either. To be fair, we'd never exchanged numbers per her pointing out, but still, after the exchange outside her house in the rain, I think that warranted finding a way to get in touch.

School sucked without finding Lynn and Reagan between classes. It was that moment that I realized how much I relied on their friendship, and it was funny that we had never discussed July and I or whatever may or may not have been going on.

She'd be with them at the band thing all day... I wondered if she would say anything. Or, maybe she'd just walk in like a baller the next day wearing my jacket and leaving it for all of us to figure out. That'd be hot.

Still, what the Hell was I thinking. We hadn't even had a conversation, and there were midterms coming out as well as pre semester switch to debate prep and the start of training for track, all before Christmas break. I had to keep my head in the game.

"Adrian! There you are." Devin came up to my locker with a slew of her minions not far behind. "God, you're so hard to track down these days now that you're not in football. I wasn't sure if I could unearth you without finding Reagan or Lynn first." She did that on purpose. I'm sure she wished she was likable enough to have a true friend of the opposite sex that wasn't after her clout.

"What's up Devin? Ladies." I nodded and smiled at everyone.

"I just wanted to say thanks again for having our back last week at the party."

"Don't mention it."

"And especially for having mine with July. I can't imagine why she was so upset with me. Honestly, Adrian, I've never done anything but support her in her endeavors. The worst part is, we used to be good friends. We were as close as she and Reagan are."

Okay, this just didn't get weird fast. "What do you want Devin?"

"I was just checking in on you. Have you gotten a chance to talk to Natalie yet? I thought you guys really hit it off at the party. Anyway, let me know if you need any help with that. Or maybe you can lead a palmetto to water but you can't make him drink...See ya around."

Wow. She and Coach Craig should have started their own think tank. Who knew a bunch of broads would be worse than the guys when I quit football. I looked up and around for Natalie, she was really sweet and whatever was going on with Devin, I didn't want her innocently put in the middle of it.

I shot some hoops with Jed and Angel after school. I didn't get to do that very often, but it was a rare night with no real homework to speak of. Billie and a few other guys from the football joined in when they saw us.

I could tell they were reluctant at first, but everything felt back to normal after ten minutes of letting them score. That's the thing about Pure Pines, on their own, as individuals, these weren't bad guys, they were my friends. Devin wasn't that bad either when she didn't have a score to settle or beef with someone.

That night I waited for Lynn to pull up from getting off the band bus. When I saw her jeep in the drive, I was relieved to see she was alone. I thought I'd run the Devin thing by her to see if she could make sense of it. I didn't really care; I just didn't want there to be a problem.

My real motivation was to find out if July had said anything about our out-of-pocket kiss. Just the reminder of it gave me a physical reaction and I wanted to know what she was doing that very second. Was it weird that I was hoping she spilled the beans to Lynn? That is the kind of thing girls tell their best friends, right?

Lynn Yawned and took her contacts out on her vanity in front of me. She was the most unique individual I knew. I was lucky to have her.

"How was it?"

"It was band. Actually, it kind of blew worse than usual because of Jesie. He was so off, and a dick to everyone the entire trip. Oh, wait... you didn't go to the game that Friday."

"No, but I certainly heard about the famous Jessie serenading Savana across stadium lights while our boys were slaughtered on the field during 4th quarter."

"You would hear that part over the epic love story!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, It's just, you know, you tend to keep your head in the game instead of getting sprung over someone, and when you do, you don't ever do anything about it."

Was I that obvious? Funny she threw my own words at me. Again, Lynn knew me well.

"Anyway, Savanna and Jesse barely made it through that weekend. It turns out, Mrs. Bishop had the administration put some "silent pressure" on her. It was enough that they got her point across. They laid out for her that Drew was coming home Thanksgiving and if she knew what was best for her, she'd have this Jesse thing dead and buried. Nobody knows exactly what was said to end it so severely as in mic dropped, all ties cut, just the whole thing set on fire and burned all to Hell—"

"Yeah, I get it."

"Well, anyway, it is over. Jesse's in a dark place. It just goes to show that Pure Pine's prevailed. We couldn't even have that small piece of fairytale last. In the end, they made her chose what was best on paper and the underdog never wins."

"You don't think Savanna chose the one she wanted?"

"Please, Adrian. You can't be that naïve or pragmatic. You sound like July. Speaking of..."

Lynn yawned again as she reached across her dresser and pulled my letterman jacket off the nob it was hung on. I hadn't even noticed it was there.

"July gave me this to give you. Said you left it at the golf course or something like that. She figured I'd see you before she did."

She tossed me the jacket and the disappointment landed before it did. So that was how it was going to be. I thought surely after we kissed this time there was no going back or sweeping it under the rug. Was it Lynn and Reagan? Were our friends the problem? Were we afraid of what they would think?

I couldn't imagine it was that for either one of us, yet... looking over at the exhausted Lynn, it occurred to me I had not made any attempt to tell her. Not even when she probed me to after the office incident. I was either waiting for July to seal her own fate with our friends, or I too was keeping it from them.

I exhaled a heavy breath and stood to leave. I was hurt and angry at her over nothing. Over exactly what I had done to her. Nothing had happened, I hadn't heard anything from her. Maybe that was it. Maybe she was making it clear to me she didn't want anything further to happen.

"Go to bed sleepy head, but hey... quick question. What do you think of Natalie Hilliard?"

"Blonde doe-eyed sophomore who's got a wicked crush on you?"

"What?!"

"Oh come on, don't pretend you haven't' noticed. It may be a Devin inspired infatuation, but it's real all the same."

"Yeah, that's what I'm worried about. Not Natalie... the Devin inspired part."

"What's wrong with it if you think you could be into her? The optics are better if it's a set up in case it's not great. If it doesn't work out, then the powers that be were wrong about the match, no harm no fowl."

"Sure, tell that to Jesse and Savanna."

"Get out of my room you dork!" 

I could still hear her chuckling as I closed her bedroom door behind me. But in the silence of the night lit by a single street lamp, I began my walk across our lawns with a sinking feeling in my stomach. Why did I feel like it was over before it started? I raised my jacket to my face and got a small whiff of July's perfume on the collar... it was hard to admit in the moment, but I automatically felt better, and all shred of doubt dissipated.