Dave nodded, then did the same thing to her hand, though his kiss was short. Then he peeled away his fingers and turned on the ignition. Was it more than guilt causing him to be quiet? Was it doubt?
For two hours, Julia switched songs. She stared out at the ocean, which was as beautiful as she’d ever seen it. She laid her hand on Dave’s thigh, and when she saw his face turn tense she pulled the hand away, switched songs, made a joke. She tried not to think of Dave with Gretchen, but it wasn’t as if she was imagining things. He had been with her. Just yesterday, he’d kissed her, ran his hands through her blond hair.
“Would you rather... “ Julia started without knowing how she was going to finish, just wanting the silence to go away, “have to sit through eight years’ worth of Marroney classes or get lobotomized without anesthetic?”
“That’s dumb, of course I’d choose Marroney’s classes.”
“Err! Trick question. They’re the same thing.”
Dave laughed. “You are so in love with that guy.”
“No, you goof.” Julia sat up, reaching out for his hand again, looking out at Highway 1 curve away from the ocean as they approached San Luis Obispo. “I’m in love with you.”
“I didn’t say the two were mutually exclusive.” He chuckled, squeezing her fingers. Now it was Julia who reached to turn up the music. She wished they would have just stayed behind on that beach in Carmel. They should have kept their trip going, at least for the day. Julia watched the familiar surroundings of San Luis Obispo pass by her window. The chain restaurants in those strip malls, Laundromats and nail salons that wouldn’t have survived without a restaurant to draw traffic in. The farmland stretching from the edges of the city to the distant hills. The high school, which would be releasing into lunch any moment now, the seniors scurrying away in their cars to get slices at Fratelli’s down the street.
“You’re just gonna go ahead and drive past school, right?” Julia said. “It’s almost noon.”
“Yeah,” Dave said, trailing off. She could hear Gretchen on his voice.
“Can I come over to your place? Watch a movie? The last few movie dates we had I’ve been dying to cuddle with you.”
“Julia Battlefield Gunteski, I had no idea you were so sentimental.”
“Shut the fuck up. Cuddling is not about sentimentality. It’s about the immense pleasure of skin on skin, especially when that skin contains someone you feel more or less strongly about.”
Dave was quiet as they arrived at a stoplight. He gripped the steering wheel, rubbed the back of his neck. She tried hard not to remember what the a cappella group had looked like as they got ready to sing on the far corner.
“Seriously? This is the first red light we get in town?”
Dave broke out in a smile. “I don’t know about a movie. But I am definitely not going to school right now.”
They pulled into Dave’s driveway, which was empty, Brett and his dad off at work. As soon as the car was stopped, Julia unbuckled her seat belt, leaned across the console, put her hand on the back of his neck and pulled him in for a kiss.
His lips were not stiff or unwelcoming. There was no sign of his mind being on Gretchen. Far from it, actually. They fit as wonderfully as they had last night, and for one blissful moment she knew that there were many of these on the way.