This Girl: A Novel

around her back and unfasten her bra, then slide it down her shoulders. I drop my mouth to her skin and as soon as the softest moan escapes her lips, my hand finds its way back to where she planted it earlier. I lower my lips, then immediately freeze at the sound of a key turning in the front door.
    “Shh.” About that time, the front door swings open and my living room light flicks on. I lift my head far enough to peer over the back of the couch and see Julia walking toward the hallway. I drop my head to Lake’s neck. “Shit. It’s your mom.”
    “Shit,” she whispers, frantically pulling her bra back up. “Shit, shit, shit.”
    I clamp my hand over her mouth. “She might not notice us. Be still.”
    Our hearts are pounding now faster than they’ve ever pounded before. I know this, because my palm is still firmly planted right on top of Lake’s breast. Apparently she recognizes the awkwardness of the moment, too.
    “Will, move your hand. This is weird.”
    I pull my hand away. “What is she doing here?”
    Lake shakes her head. “I have no idea.”
    And that’s when it happens. I’ve heard people can see their lives flash before their eyes in the moments before death.
    It’s true.
    Julia walks back into the room and screams.
    I jump off Lake.
    Lake jumps off the couch and there it is. My entire life flashes before my eyes the moment Julia sees Lake standing in my living room, fastening her bra.
    “It’s just us,” I blurt out. I don’t know why I chose those words to be my possible last words. Julia is standing with her hand over her mouth, staring at us wide-eyed. “It’s just us,” I say again, as if she doesn’t already know that.
    “I was . . .” Julia holds up Caulder’s pillow. “Caulder wanted his pillow,” she says. She looks back and forth between us and in a split second, her expression turns from fear to anger. I immediately reach down and retrieve Lake’s shirt, then hand it to her.
    “Mom,” Lake says. She doesn’t follow it up with anything else because she has no idea what to say.
    “Go home,” Julia says to Lake.
    “Julia,” I say to Julia.
    “Will?” Julia says to me, cutting a warning shot in my direction. “I’ll deal with you later.”
    As soon as the words come out of Julia’s mouth, Lake’s face turns from embarrassed to really, really angry. “Mom, we’re adults! You can’t talk to him like that!” Lake yells. “And you can’t prevent us from making out! This is ridiculous.”
    I grab Lake’s elbow in an attempt to calm her down. “Don’t, babe,” I say quietly.
    She looks at me defensively. “She can’t tell me what to do, Will. I’m an adult.”
    I calmly place my hand on her shoulder. “Lake, you’re still in high school. You live under her roof. I shouldn’t have brought you here, I’m sorry. She’s right.” I lean in and kiss her briefly to calm her, then I take her shirt and help her pull it over her head.
    “Oh, my God!” Julia yells. “Are you kidding me, Will? Don’t help her put her clothes back on! I’m standing right here!”
    What the hell am I thinking?
    I release the shirt and hold my palms up in the air, then back away from Lake. She looks at me apologetically and whispers, “I’m sorry,” then heads toward the door.
    The door doesn’t even shut before Julia begins yelling at her. “You’ve been dating him for two weeks, Lake! What do you think you’re doing going that far with him that fast?” The door finally closes and I sink back to the couch, feeling incredibly stupid. Incredibly guilty. Incredibly pathetic. Yet . . . somehow still incredibly happy.
    I reach down and am picking my own shirt up when the front door swings open again. Julia has a grip on Lake’s arm and marches her straight back into the living room, then positions her on the couch across from me.
    “This can’t wait,” Julia says. “I don’t even trust that y’all won’t start this back up tonight as soon as I go to bed.”
    Lake is looking at me the same way I’m looking at her. Confused.
    Julia turns to Lake. “Are y’all having sex already?”
    Lake groans and covers her face with her hands.
    “You are?”
    “No!” Lake says defensively. “We haven’t had sex yet, okay?”
    I’m watching the conversation between them, hoping to hell I don’t get involved in it.
    “Yet?” Julia says. “So you’re going to?”
    Lake stands and throws her hands up in the air. “What do you want me to say, Mom? I’m eighteen!