WREN
I think I have a problem.
Pretty sure I’m falling in love with Crew Lancaster.
Maybe it isn’t love. Maybe it’s just a serious case of infatuation that’s perfectly natural, considering he’s the one who took my virginity. He’s very important to me. The one boy I can never, ever forget. The one who I will remember until I’m an old lady on my death bed, my memories running through my mind, filtered, altered. Broken.
Except for that one boy. The one who I had sex with for the first time.
The rest of Saturday night is a haze. After round two, where we both made sure we came, he cuddled me close as we dozed off. We slept in each other’s arms, and when I woke up Sunday morning, he was tucked up behind me, hard and poking me in the butt, his fingers between my legs, touching my sore, sensitive skin.
He still made me come, and I returned the favor before we took showers and got ready to leave. We had breakfast and couldn’t linger for long. The plane was ready to take us back to Lancaster Prep.
Back to reality.
* * *
Once we returned to campus,I went to my room, collapsing into bed and sleeping the afternoon away. I only woke up to my phone buzzing, the room already dark since it was after five.
It was my father, checking in on me and asking about my trip. I lied about the fine details and got him off the phone quickly, grabbing the cookie out of my duffel bag that I got at the bakery yesterday afternoon and devouring it before I fell back into bed.
Now it’s Monday morning and another school day is about to start. At least it’s a shortened day—all week we get out at twelve-thirty because of the finals’ schedule. Today is first and sixth period, so we get to kick it off with Figueroa.
God, I don’t want to face him, knowing what he’s done. Will he even be there, or did they already arrest him?
I take a shower and blow dry my hair. Get dressed in my uniform. Tie my hair back with the ribbon, remembering what Crew said. How he wants to tie my wrists together with it one day.
My skin goes hot at the possibility.
I slip on my boots and am about to put on my jewelry when I realize something.
Where is my ring?
I unpacked at one point last night and don’t remember pulling it out of my bag. I go to the bathroom and dig in my toiletries bag, but it’s not in there. I check my purse to see if I dropped it in a small pocket inside, but no.
It’s not there either.
I remember taking it off. Leaving it on the nightstand at the hotel.
I don’t remember picking it up before we left.
Panic fills me, making it hard to breathe. My father is going to kill me. That ring is a family heirloom. It was his mother’s original engagement ring, and it has so much sentimental value attached to it. If I lost it…
I throw on my uniform jacket and my thick winter coat. Wind the scarf around my neck and don a hat before I’m leaving my dorm room and eventually exiting the building, a little earlier than usual.
I need to talk to Crew. Ask him if he remembers grabbing the ring for me. Anything is possible, right?
If he didn’t, I can call the hotel and ask if someone turned in a ring. There are still good people in this world who would turn in a lost item. I’m sure of it.
My steps are hurried as I run across the slick sidewalk. It rained for the better part of the weekend and some of the snow still remains, though now it’s slushy and dark with debris and dirt. Not fluffy and white like it is when it first falls. When it feels magical and wondrous.
No, now it’s just ugly. The air is cold and damp, the sky a dark, steely gray. There aren’t many people out this early, so it’s easy for me to make my way to the main building. When I see the entrance, no one is lingering in front of it, not even Crew’s friends. I trudge my way up the steps, going just inside and waiting by the door, so I can see his approach.
We texted briefly last night, but I could tell he was tired. I was too. Plus, I don’t want to come across as too clingy.
Oh my God, I sound like every other girl I know who’s had sex and then wants to play it cool. Like it’s no big deal. And the sex thing isn’t what’s bothering me today. No, it’s the fact that I lost my ring and I’m scared of my father’s reaction.
He’s going to be mad. I just know it.