Chapter 1

Sarah

“What do you mean you’re going out of town? We were supposed to celebrate our one year anniversary this weekend!” I told my boyfriend Joshua. He’d been my crush since middle school and had finally asked me out for our junior prom a year ago. We’d been together ever since. Joshua was all I ever wanted. He was 5’11 with a thin, wiry build. I just loved his bright blue eyes. I’d been hoping he would finally make love to me after our senior prom, but Joshua told me he wanted to wait. It was seriously frustrating. I’d gone through all the trouble of getting on birth control for nothing. I knew he wanted to. I could always feel his arousal through his pants during our heavy make-out sessions. Sure, I knew he wanted to wait for the right time, but we’d been together for a year. How long was a girl supposed to wait? I was the only one of my friends who hadn’t had sex and it felt like I was going to explode. 

“I’m sorry,” Joshua explained, reaching out to grab my hand. “My stepdad wants to take the family to his family’s lake house. My mom said I have to go.” 

I pulled my hand away before he could touch me. “You don’t even like your stepdad. You’re always talking about how he’s such an asshole. Why do you need to go with them?  You’re eighteen. You should be able to stay home if you want.”

Errr, I hated Joshua’s stepdad. His name was Daniel, but he always insisted Joshua call him ‘Dad’ even though he’d only been Joshua’s stepfather for three years. What’s worse is that he always insisted I call him ‘Dad’ as well. He was such a bully.  Joshua was always complaining about him. The guy thought that because he was 6’4 and all muscle that he could do whatever he wanted. As bad as he was, it was Daniel’s son and Joshua’s stepbrother that really made my skin crawl. His name was Nate. He was twenty-four and had just graduated college. Because of his constant partying and “whoring around” as Joshua put it, it took him three extra years to get his degree. Like his father, Nate came off as cocky and confident. Every time he would see me, he would try to give me a hug or corner me in a room. Nate was tall and muscular like his father. He had brown hair and dimples that made most girls swoon. It always bothered me how he always tried to show up Joshua. I don’t know how many times I saw him try to give Joshua a wedgie. It got to the point where I ended up making Joshua go to my house when he wanted to hang out.

“Look, it’s not my fault. My mom is insisting the entire family go. You know it’s not my choice. I’ll make it up to you.” 

 “When? You know I’m leaving to start the early college courses. This was supposed to be our weekend, our ‘special weekend’. You promised!”

Joshua reached over and took my hand. I didn’t pull away this time. “I know, I know. I don’t have a choice though. It’s only because of Daniel’s money and connections that I was able to get into the same school as you. I can’t piss him off now. We’ll be together soon, I promise.”

I stared into Joshua’s brilliant blue eyes. “Sometimes it just feels like you are looking for reasons for us to not be together.”

“Come on, babe, you know that’s not the case. Please, don’t be mad,” Joshua said, making his cute little pouty face that he knows makes me weak in the knees.  

“I know. I’m sorry. I’m just disappointed. I know you don’t have a choice.”