Read Online Blooming by Peyton Fletcher - Free Book Online Page A

residual envy she’d felt in the coffee shop drained away and the
first stirrings of something else trickled in - a little pleasant flutter in
her stomach.
    “Hi yourself,”
he replied and set her down. His arms came up to cup her face and then he
stroked her hair back with his large hands, flattening it against her skull so
he could look at her face clearly, drinking her in while she looked happy.
    Lily and Ben
caught up to them and broke the spell, “God Jen you can run fast for a short
chick,” Ben gasped, putting his hands on his knees to get his breath back.
    Todd looked
quizzically between Ben and Lily as his hand lowered to rest on Jen’s hip.
“How’d the date go?” he asked.
    When the mood
immediately shifted and nobody said a word his face became thunderous, “Ok Lily
inside, I want to hear all about it.” He shook Ben’s hand, “thanks for walking
them home,” effectively dismissing him.
    Jen waved at
Ben as he turned to walk away and then tackled Todd, “did you have to be so
rude, he got us out of a tight spot earlier.”
    “Tight spot,”
he fumed his voice growling louder. “You, inside,” he said pointing to Lily who
looked mutinous. Then he bent to Jen’s ear sending her pulse through the roof
when he said, “You and me - upstairs, 7pm, and bring your tongue.”
    “Shit,” she
squeaked and shot away.
    “Shit, shit,
shit,” she said running upstairs and hearing Todd and Lily slam the door behind
them.
    Jen bounced
into her room, threw herself on the bed and thrashed her arms and legs about in
a panic, “Oh God, oh god, oh god, oh god.”
    She sat back up
her hair stood on end, and started pacing the floor. She looked at the clock -
she had three and a half hours to go, until what?
    “Shit!” Well
she’d better at least make herself look decent.
    Downstairs
Todd was pacing too, only he was balling his hands into fists at the same time.
    “I’m not
blaming you Lily, but don’t ever arrange to meet somebody like this again.”
    “I’m sorry
Todd but you don’t need to yell at me I feel stupid enough as it is. He said
all the right things over the net, he’d obviously done a bit of homework. He
knew where I lived, where mom and dad lived, things about some of my school
friends from back home.”
    “Christ Lily
what have I told you about putting too much crap on the internet. We’re going
to the cops tomorrow and filing a report, there’ll be fuck all they can do
about it, because no doubt he gave you a fake name but we’re doing it anyway. And
don’t think of going anywhere without me for a while.”
    “What! I
can’t do that I have to go to college and I’ll climb the walls if I have to stay
in the house all the time.”
    “I’ll take
you to school and pick you up. Fuck Lily you’ve just said this bastard knows
where you live, and don’t think I haven’t noticed that hand print on your
wrist.”
    She looked
down at her arm and the tears she’d bitten back earlier started to flow. In a
trice Todd had his arms round her.
    “Lily
sweetheart I’ve been worrying about you since I left this morning, while you’re
staying with me I’m responsible for you - in fact forget that, I’m always going
to be responsible for you. It would kill me if anything happened to you, I love
you honey.”
    “I know; I
know you do.”
    ****
    At 7pm Todd
stood outside Jen’s door, he wasn’t sure this was a good idea anymore, his head
was all over the place, and he was having trouble keeping a lid on his temper.
    “Are you
there Jen?” No response, so he knocked, the door opened and he caught his
breath.
    She’d blown
her hair out again, and although there was still far too much of it framing
such a small face, it was beautiful and fell nearly to her waist in dark waves.
He was gratified that she’d taken trouble over herself for him.
    She had on a
little make-up, her eyes with mascara looked wide and dark and she had lined
her eyes with navy pencil which matched the colour of her