Annette Broadrick – Hard To Forget (страница 3)

However, when he asked her to the prom, her hopes soared. She knew she wasn’t pretty, not like the other girls. Even though she’d gotten her braces off two years before, she was still careful about smiling at people. She didn’t know what to say to the other kids, who seemed so sure of themselves, so she just went to her classes without making eye contact and without speaking to anyone.

But during the three weeks between the time Joe had asked her to go to the prom with him and the prom itself, Elena knew that she had blossomed into another person. She felt popular and attractive for the first time in her life. She’d held her head up and smiled at classmates, who had been startled at first before they had smiled back.

She’d felt more comfortable joining a group in the cafeteria and listening to their conversation. She still didn’t talk much, but she listened and smiled and nodded her head in agreement. And she’d laughed more, because she was happy.

When anyone asked if she was going to the prom, she told them she was going with Joe Sanchez just to watch the expressions of amazement on their faces. Joe had quite a reputation around school. He was known for being a little wild and therefore exciting. He didn’t date girls from the school but had been seen from time to time with older girls who lived in town.

Elena and her mother had driven to San Antonio to find her the perfect gown to wear. It was midnight-black and straight, falling to her ankles with a slit to the knee so she could walk. She’d even worn two-inch heels, mostly so that she wouldn’t trip over the hem of her dress. Her mother had helped her with her hair, pinning it high on her head and letting stray curls tumble around her face and neck.

Of course her glasses didn’t help her glamorous image in the least, but without them she was practically blind. But not even having to wear her hated glasses could detract from her joy when Joe Sanchez saw her for the first time tonight.

He looked stunned. He acted stunned. And as the evening progressed, he didn’t let her get more than two feet away from him.

The only time Elena was uncomfortable was about midway through the dance when three of his buddies came up to them and made joking comments that she didn’t understand and that seemed to upset Joe. She asked him about it later when they were out on the dance floor, but he shrugged off her questions, saying his friends were too stupid to bother with.

Joe had begun to relax and enjoy the dance before the guys had shown up. He didn’t know how they’d managed to be here, since they were all dropouts. These were the guys he’d considered friends until last fall when he’d changed his lifestyle by working hard to bring up his grades.

They hadn’t liked that he was suddenly too busy to hang out with them. As the months passed, he’d realized what losers they were, doing stupid stuff, getting into all kinds of trouble for no other reason than they were bored.

His life was different now. Coach Torres had told him last week that he’d been approved for the scholarship to go to Texas A & M at College Station. He’d talked to him about joining the Corps, which was the military school there. All at once, Joe could see a future for himself, a chance to get away from bums like these guys.

Elena noticed that Joe had become quieter after he’d told those guys to leave them alone. When he suggested they leave the dance sometime later, she was ready to go. She wasn’t used to dancing and she certainly wasn’t used to dancing in high heels. As soon as they got into his car, she kicked off her shoes.

He immediately removed his tie and undid the top button of his shirt. They looked at each other and laughed.

“That was fun, Joe. Thank you so much for inviting me…and for the beautiful corsage.” He’d given her a wrist corsage of gardenias, her favorite flower.

“Do you have to go home right away?” he asked, looking at his watch.

“Not anytime soon,” she replied. Her mother understood that this was a once-in-a-lifetime occasion. As for her dad, she hoped he’d be asleep by the time she got home, so the later the better.

“I thought we might go out to the levee for a while….”

Her heart began to pound and she tried to remember to breathe. The levee was where the kids went to make out. Not that she’d ever been there before, but that was what they liked to talk about. Going to the levee.

It had been built many years ago to control flooding and to help direct irrigation from the Rio Grande into the canals that branched from it.

“If you don’t want to, that’s okay,” he finally said, and she realized she’d been sitting there, unable to provide him with a coherent answer.

She gripped her hands together. “I’d like that,” she said quietly.

He grinned. “Great.” As though her agreement freed him in some way, he leaned over and gently kissed her. Boy, if she thought she was having trouble breathing before! She forced herself to relax and placed her hand on his chest. Only then did she discover that his heart was racing as fast as hers. She found that somehow reassuring.

When he finally straightened, he looked at her for a long time before starting the car.

Once parked, she saw why this was such a great place. It was higher than most of the land around them, and she could see the lights of Santiago, as well as those across the river in Mexico.

She wasn’t surprised to find that there were several other cars parked, but Joe parked in such a way that each car had adequate privacy.

Once Joe shut off the engine, the quiet around them seemed to seep into the car. They rolled down the windows and a slight breeze wafted through.

Joe pushed the seat back, then took off his jacket. “I, uh…I’ve never brought anyone here before.” His voice sounded forced.

She turned and looked at him. “Really? I would have thought a football star like you would be up here every weekend.” She was amazed that she could tease him.

He undid another button of his shirt. “Actually football kept me really busy all fall. Since then, I’ve been spending most of my time on homework. How about you?”

“Homework keeps me busy, too.”

“No, I mean, have you ever been here before?”

She laughed. She couldn’t help it. “Who would bring someone like me up here?”

“What do you mean, someone like you?”

She shrugged. “You may not have noticed, but I’m not one of the popular girls in school.”

“You could be.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, if you’d relax a little more and join in. Actually I’ve noticed you with some of the girls in the cafeteria lately. They all seem to like you just fine.”

She hadn’t given their response to her much thought. “I guess so.”

He slid his arm around her shoulders. “I’m glad I’ve gotten to know you this year, Elena. You’ve helped me to look at life in a whole new way. I mean, you have all this ambition—you plan to go to college and do something with your life.”

“You mean work my way through college.”

“Well, we all have to do that. I hadn’t really believed I had a chance to go to college until Coach started urging me to fill out applications and you and I became friends. I just found out that I’ve been accepted at A & M for next year.”

“Oh, Joe, that’s wonderful!”

“I wouldn’t have considered it before. I guess I figured I would stay here and find something to do with my time like everyone else.”

“I’m glad you’re looking at the bigger picture.” She lightly touched his jaw with her finger. “I’m also glad you consider me a friend.”

He took her hand and kissed the tips of her fingers. “How about you? Do you know what you’re going to do after graduation?”

“I’ve been accepted at George Washington University in D.C. I’ve been offered a scholarship and a couple of grants. Mom says she has some money put away that I can use, as well.”

He framed her face with his hands and looked at her with a serious expression on his face. “I want to be much more than just friends, Elena,” he finally whispered.

“You do?” She could scarcely get her breath.

“Uh-huh,” he replied, kissing her with a lot more assurance and passion than he’d allowed himself during their first kiss.

She’d never felt like this before. She couldn’t get enough of his touch. Her brain shut down and all she could do was to feel. She knew that the scent of his aftershave would always bring this magical night to mind. When the kiss ended, they were both breathing rapidly. The night was too dark for her to see his face, but she knew by his breathing and the racing of his heart beneath her palm that he was equally affected by what they had just shared.

“There’s not much room up here with the steering wheel and all. Do you want to move into the back seat?”

She nodded, and somehow he must have been able to see that. Since the car was a two-door, he pulled one of the seats forward and helped her crawl into the back. Then he followed her.

He stretched out the width of the car as far as possible, then pulled her down on top of him.

She’d never been so close to anyone before. Her dress had a halter top that now fell open. She was grateful that it was too dark for him to see anything.