The Gift

“You totally kicked my ass,” Morgan told Eric as they walked through the parking lot of Thunder Alley to her car. “I still don’t see why we couldn’t play candlepin. At least I can lift those balls.”

“Morgan, candlepin is to regular bowling as Taco Bell is to authentic Mexican cuisine,” Eric replied.

“Man, now I want nachos,” Morgan said, unlocking the door.

“We can make some when we get back to my house. Let’s jet,” Eric said, getting in.

“You got it,” Morgan replied, twisting the key in the ignition. “So, I take it you had fun beating me completely.”

“You have to get used to swinging and walking at the same time. You get a rhythm going, the roll is made with your whole body in sync—“

Morgan snorted. “Spare me the lesson, please.”

“Would you rather we’d gone to Lynn’s party?” Eric asked.

Morgan just snorted again.

It was their high school graduation night, and the entire senior class (including their pals Rob and Tony) were partying at Lynn Shelton’s house. Eric and Morgan decided to go bowling instead, and play video games all night in Eric’s basement, just the two of them.

“Do you want to go?” Morgan had asked as they sat in the library studying for finals. “It might be fun.”

“Do you have a burning desire to get arrested?” Eric asked, not even looking up from his books. Lynn’s parties were legendary; she was one of those girls who was friends with everyone, who had a huge house, and whose parents would go out for a weekend and pretend not to know that their child was throwing parties in their absence. As long as nothing got trashed and Lynn cleaned the place up, they would leave the liquor cabinet unlocked and not come back until she called them up the next day.

Mayview was a town so small that illegal underage drinking parties were often the only excitement. Of course in a town that small, breaking up illegal underage drinking parties was the only excitement for the town police. The way some kids went on about it, one would think they wouldn’t let anyone graduate until they had experienced the thrill of cowering in the woods, waiting for the blue lights to disappear.

“No, that’s okay,” Eric said, taking mock offense. “I know it would have probably been the last time you would be able to see all of our countless high school colleagues—“

“As far as I’m concerned, Mayview High can burn down Carrie-style and I wouldn’t feel more than a twinge,” Morgan told him. She seized her tassel and said, “I hereby make a sacred vow to never be one of those kids who come back on winter break from college to make small talk with our old teachers and sigh nostalgically at all our old hangouts.”

Eric gave his tassel a tug. “Amen,” he agreed. He fiddled with the radio, cycling through Morgan’s pre-sets. “It’ll just degenerate anyway. Every high school gets worse as the years go by. By the time we graduate college, they’ll have armed checkpoints they have to pass through, and the whole place, including the students, will look like something out of a post-apocalyptic movie.”

“We’ll go back for reunions, of course,” Morgan said. “If only to see which bullies are Wal-Mart janitors and which sluts are on their third husbands and sixth abortions.”

Eric laughed. “You are so full of venom, Morgan. Leaves wither as you walk past.”

“How poetic. I am so flattered. Like you won’t strut in there and casually ask everyone if they’ve read your latest bestseller.”

He was suddenly serious. “If I haven’t made it by our tenth reunion, I’m not going.”

“C’mon,” Morgan wheedled. “You have to come back to see me, at least.”

“I’m not going to wait until reunions to see you,” Eric said. “Unless you’re planning on losing touch?”

“Is that even possible?” Morgan asked.

“I hope not,” Eric said. They were silent for a while, listening to the music. “Did you know you cock your hip out of the way when you throw the ball?”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I think it’s unconscious, but you definitely jerk your butt to the side, out of the way of your arm.”

Morgan smirked. “And what were you doing looking at my butt? Are you checking me out?”

Eric looked away, out the window. Damn straight I am, he thought. I could have sat in the dark and watched you bowl all night.

The house was dark when they pulled in. Eric picked up a note from the kitchen table and read it aloud while Morgan raided the fridge. “Hi, guys. We’ve gone to bed so make yourselves at home. Just don’t make too much noise. The basement is all set up. Help yourselves to the food. Love you, Mom.”

It had been Eric’s mother’s idea that the two of them have a video game sleepover, even though Tony and Rob couldn’t make it. Eric couldn’t figure out why; the only reason his parents even let Morgan sleep over after they all hit puberty was because they figured there wouldn’t be any fooling around going on with the other two guys there. And that was before Eric spilled to his mom that he had feelings for Morgan. He wondered if maybe his mother was hoping for something to happen between the two of them.

“Sweet, she made guacamole,” Morgan whispered, her head in the fridge. “Your mom rocks!”

It was set up perfectly; they would be in the basement, alone. His parents were asleep. The possibilities were already making his palms sweat. But of course it was up to Morgan. It always had been. She had to make the first move; he could only ever react.

“I’ll grab the chips,” Eric said. Morgan looked over her shoulder. Eric framed her with his thumbs and forefingers, letting out a low whistle. Morgan waggled her behind and retrieved the guacamole from the fridge. She led the way down the basement steps, bowl in her hands and her old army duffel over her shoulder.

She was certainly giving signals, but Eric couldn’t let his hopes rise too high. After all, they had opportunity after the prom too, and nothing had happened. Not even a real kiss.

They had been sitting on the hood of Eric’s car, Eric still in his tuxedo, Morgan in her slinky, black sheath dress with the multicolored sparkles. Eric had glitter all over him from her dress, her hair, her body as they danced. He had been surprised that Morgan even wanted to go to the prom; it was one of those typical school things she usually hated. But Morgan had said, “We can’t miss our senior prom.”

Now they were just staring up at the clear, starry sky, enjoying the rare nighttime warmth that predicted the approaching heat of summer. Eric had his arm around Morgan; she was yawning. The car was parked in Morgan’s driveway; her parents were gone for the night. He thought of how awesome it would be if Morgan were to invite him inside, to her bed. A lot of their fellow students were probably following prom-night tradition and losing their virginity tonight.

But Morgan wasn’t traditional, and her eyes refused to stay open. “I’d love to sit out here all night with you,” she told him, “but I’m about to pass out.”

“Want me to put you to bed?” Eric asked.

He led her inside, up the stairs, turned his back like a gentleman when she slid out of her dress, leaving it on the floor like a pool of dark, starry water. She was in her pajamas when he turned around, climbing into bed. He pulled the covers up to her chin. He wanted her to peel them back and move aside for him, to slide her little shorts and panties off her hips and guide him inside.

But she smiled peacefully instead and closed her eyes. Eric sighed and pressed his lips to the tip of her nose. Morgan giggled and said, “G’night.”

“Goodnight, I’ll lock you in.”

“Thanks.”

Eric turned the lock, shut the door snugly and made for his car. He made sure to make his shower extra cold before going to bed that night.

Eric handed Morgan a controller. “X-Men: Legends?” he asked.

“Sounds great to me,” Morgan agreed. “What mission are we on?”

“The astral plane, I think,” Eric replied, settling down on the couch next to her.

They played for a while, not talking about much other than the game. Then Morgan said, “Can you believe we’re heading to college? It feels like we just started high school.”

“I know. Time passes weirdly. But a lot has happened.”

“Yeah.” Morgan’s face had a far-away look. “I’m scared.”

“Really, why?”

“I’m going to be moving out, going to a totally different kind of school, a new town, surrounded by strangers.”

“You’ll make friends quickly.”

“Why couldn’t you go to the same college as me?” Morgan whined.

“Because Oakhurst has an awesome writing program and the state university barely has an English department.”

“I know, I’m just joking with you,” Morgan said, quickly enough to make Eric wonder if she was only half-joking. “I am going to miss you, though,” she said quietly a moment later. “I keep feeling like I should’ve paid more attention, slowed down, enjoyed more. Done things differently. I guess I thought we’d always have time.”

“I’m going to miss you too,” Eric said. “But we can still e-mail and call and visit. And Instant Message.”

“It’s not the same,” Morgan said, so quietly that Eric was sure she hadn’t meant for him to hear.

“There’s still time. We have all summer. We have tonight,” Eric reminded her.

Morgan hit pause and put down her controller. She stood, stretched, and yawned so big that her jaw cracked. “If I can stay awake, that is.” She blinked, then suggested, “Why don’t you make us some coffee? I’m gonna change.”

Eric padded upstairs as Morgan ducked into the little basement bathroom with her bag. The sky was still dark; the clock on the coffeemaker said 3:30am. As the machine gurgled and dripped, he thought about what Morgan said. Back when they were applying to schools, he had thought for maybe a minute about chasing her, but he knew what would happen; they would grow apart, even at the same school. She would meet some amazing guy and he’d be left behind. And at the end, he’d have given up his dream school for a relationship that was no more real than a dream itself.

“Just like any possibility of… anything tonight,” he said to himself. “I have to stop getting my hopes up. She’s passed up so many chances; I guess she really doesn’t want to be anything more than my friend.”

Five minutes later, he walked down the stairs with two mugs of coffee and found Morgan waiting on the couch wearing The Dress.

The Dress was a tight, red vinyl sheath with shoulder straps, the hem at mid-thigh, and a long metal zipper down the back. Last time he saw it was Halloween night, when he and Morgan dressed up as devils and strolled around town.

Near the end of the night, they decided to take a stroll in the graveyard and sat down behind one of the larger gravestones. Morgan kissed him. Her lips were soft, slick with lipstick. Eric fumbled one of her straps off her shoulder. Then the police car rolled in on the routine check against Halloween grave-vandals. It was like someone dropped her into ice water.

Morgan sat there, leaning back on the couch fiddling with a controller as casually as if she was wearing nothing more special than a nightshirt. “You spilled half your coffee on your foot,” she said with a raised eyebrow.

“Whoa,” Eric breathed, still paralyzed. Morgan got up and took the mugs from him. She enjoyed a long slurp from hers and waited for him to unfreeze.

“You wanna play or what?” Morgan asked, pursing her lips seductively. Eric knew she wasn’t talking about video games anymore.

“Hell yes,” he said eagerly, taking her face in his hands and kissing her. Her lips were salty from the chips, her tongue bitter from the coffee. She made a low, rumbling purr in her throat before sliding out of his arms to set the mugs down. Then she came back and hung her arms around his neck.

Morgan backed away, pulling Eric with her toward the couch. They fell onto it together, eliciting a loud groan of protest from the springs. “Shh!” Morgan hissed through giggles, putting a hand over Eric’s mouth. He nipped and licked her palm until she took it away, then moved to her neck. His fingers groped in back for her zipper.

Morgan’s tongue probed his earlobe. “That’s your graduation gift you’re unwrapping,” she whispered. Eric’s shaking hands clumsily pulled Morgan’s dress off of her. She wasn’t wearing anything underneath.

“It’s just what I’ve always wanted,” Eric said. “And here I didn’t get you anything.” He just looked at her, how pale she was, how her nipples pinked and hardened in the cool air. For a moment she held back, then reached up hungrily.

“Oh, there’s something you could give me,” she breathed hotly into his ear.

It was a slow, agonizingly delicious blur of skin, mouths, hot breath as Morgan stripped his clothes off. He felt like he was dreaming, drowning, his heart jack-hammering, breathing as though he’d run a mile. “God, Morgan, are you sure about this?” Eric asked, breathless, as she put the condom on him.

“I can’t think of anyone better,” she said softly. “Anyone I trust or love more. Now come here.” She pulled him into her.

Eric clung to her as they moved, lost to everything but the sensations. “I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Morgan gasped in his ear. “Kiss me.” He did.

It was over almost faster than it had begun. “I’m sorry, I wish I could’ve gone longer—“ Eric started.

“Shh,” Morgan interrupted, cradling his head to her chest. “It was perfect.”

“I didn’t think you…” Eric trailed off. He stroked her hair. “All those other times, when nothing happened.”

“I wanted to,” Morgan admitted. “But I was afraid. I wasn’t ready.”

“And you were tonight? What made you change your mind?”

She snuggled her face into the curve of his neck. “Pretty soon, we’ll be going away to a place where there are tons of new people, tons of temptations, alcohol, parties. I didn’t want my first to be a drunken mistake, and I didn’t want yours to be, either. Tonight just seemed like the right time. Even though we’re going away soon, we will always have this, that we were the first for each other.” She paused and lifted herself up on one elbow. Her fingers smoothed his cheek. “I’m sorry I took so long to decide.”

He smiled. “I never thought you would change your mind,” he admitted. Eric’s smile faded. “I just wanted to say, Morgan, no pressure. No promises. We should go off to college without any strings or anything.”

Morgan kissed him. “I don’t want to leave,” she said. The corners of her mouth tugged down, quivered. “God, I feel like crying.”

“Don’t. Don’t feel sad until you have to. Tonight, let’s just enjoy it.” Eric pulled a sleeping bag on top of them, folded Morgan close in his arms. “No matter what happens, we still have this.”