Acquiring Trouble

her eyes. The violet shade darkened and he couldn't help but momentarily get lost in them.
    "When faced with the probability of everyone going away to college or jobs outside of Keeneston , it seems as if tonight gives us a certain freedom to say and do things we've always wanted without fear of embarrassment or ridicule at school on Monday morning," she said confidently as she walked closer to him. Her voice was lower than Stacy's, but seemed to weave a spell around him.
    "I suppose." Miles felt his brow f urrow in confusion as he watched this little imp stop in front of him. She barely made it up to his chest, but few women did. He was six two and his cowboy boots made h im even a bit taller than that.
    "I have to tell you something , ” Morgan paused . “ Thank you," she choked out.
    "For what?"
    "You were always kind to me, even when others weren’t . You helped me study for that math test sophomore year when no one else would be my study partner and you never pretended I was invisible. I really appreciate that. You were the only one who did so."
    "You know, more people would’ve been kind if you show ed your true self and didn't hi d e behind this rebel, bad - girl attitude… and appearance." He scanned her baggy black cargo pants, ratty Nirvana t-shirt and dark purple fingernail polish.
    "Appearance doesn’t make a person!" Morgan said as she placed her hands on her hips and stared him down.
    "See, that's why people weren't nice to you. You're so short and defensiv e with people. Maybe if you acted more like your sister…"
    "Oh! My sister —t he freaking saint! I could never live up to her. No one could! Tell me , Miles, would my sister do this?"
    Morgan grabbed his shoulders and pulled him down before he could even realize what was happening. Her lips, purple lipstick and all, were on his kissing him hard. He was shocked. Shocked by the fact that he liked it. Shocked when her aggressive tongue pushed into his mouth. Shocked that he felt full breasts against his chest and a ha n d sliding down to cup his growing erection. He couldn't help himself. He closed his eyes and lost himself in her intoxicating touch.
     
    Morgan couldn't believe her boldness. But the man of her dreams was alone in the room and had compared her to her sister. It was the only way she could think to prove she wasn't her saintly sister —s he was better. The fact that Morgan had been dreaming about this moment for four years contributed too.
    She moaned into his mouth as she felt his tongue slowly move in response to her kiss. The turmoil of the last fo ur years melted away. The fight with her parents and sister just this afternoon left her mind and was replaced with the permanent memory of the feel of Miles' s tongue in her mouth and the weight of his erection in her hand. She ran her other hand across his muscled back and slid it around his shoulder, bringing him closer to her.
    "Oh my god!" someone shrieked.
    " Dammit. Babe , it's not wh at it looks like. She kissed me," Miles tried to explain to an outraged Stacy.
    "So is she the reason you're going to Texas and didn't even apply to Vandy ? To be with this skank ?"
    Morgan felt her eyes go round, her hands clenched into fists. She was used to being called names, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt.
    "I would never be with someone like her, you know that. You're all that matters to me," he pleaded.
    Morgan ducked her head and pushed past Stacy and into the hall. People were staring at her and whispering as she ran past them. Once out in the night air she ran as fast and hard as she could. Anger filled her. Her feet took her to the back of the hardware store on Main Street. She looked around , approached the back door , and quickly picked the lock.
     
    Two hours later Morgan was high above the town with a can of red paint. She stepped back from the tower and leaned against the rail. "Miles Loves Morgan" was written in huge letters across the side of the water tower facing town. She signed his initials under it and then pulled out the note she had written and a strip of duct tape. She attached the note where it would only be visible to someone standing where she was and then climbed down.
    Morgan picked up her two bags that sat in the field and walked away from Keeneston forever.  

 
Chapter One
     
    Miles sat in his office in Lexington and read the document in f ront of him. It was a warm night, but he had been in his office so much recently he forgot it was even the