Gina and Mike by Buffy Andrews Read Free Book Online

but I realized we hadn’t made a decision. My heart felt like it was going to pop out of my chest. I wiggled over to Keith and I leaned in and he leaned in and we kissed. It was as quick as a firefly’s light.
    Funny the memories that come rushing back at odd times. But being at Jeremy’s, hanging with my friends, knowing that graduation was only a couple of weeks away, made me retrospective. 
    Mike leaned over and whispered in my ear. “Wanna get out of here? Go to the woods?”
    I nodded. I was going to try to be the old me, but I didn’t want to do it at Jeremy’s house. I wanted to be alone with Mike under our tree in our woods. That’s where I wanted to be, more than anything. And I hoped that I could relax enough to let down my guard and let the one person I loved more than anything in.
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 6
     
     
    Gina
     
     
    The woods where we made out were part of Mike’s uncle’s farm.  His uncle Jim cut a road into the woods so he could easily access the trees when he needed to cut firewood.  Mike said it was a safe place to make out because no one, except his uncle, ever used the road. And Uncle Jim wouldn’t be using it at night.
    I’m pretty sure Mike told him that we went there, just in case he ever saw car lights going down the lane. 
    We passed the lane going back to the farm and shortly after turned down the dirt road leading into the woods. I bounced as we navigated the bumps and potholes.
    Mike glanced over at me. “Feeling OK?”
    I smiled. “Yeah. Just thinking about graduation. That reminds me. Mom wants to have my graduation party on the Saturday after we graduate but I told her I wanted to check to see when you’re having yours.”
    “Mine’s on Friday night,” Mike said. “Everyone’s supposed to come back to the house afterward. So it looks like that will all work out.”
    Mike turned off the car. “There’s a lot of stars out tonight.  I bet we can find the Big Dipper.”
    I smiled because I remembered what one of my best friends, J.R., had told me.
    “Did you know that the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper aren’t constellations but asterisms?”
    Mike shook his head.
    “J.R. told me that.”
    Mike wasn’t fond of J.R., mostly because he knew how J.R. felt about me. J.R. was in love with me and had been for a long time. I never had any romantic feelings for J.R. He was the brother I never had. Mike knew this but it didn’t stop him from being jealous.
    Mike stared straight ahead. “I read what J.R. wrote in your yearbook.” 
    I reached over and touched his hand. “When?”
    He turned and looked at me. “You gave it to me to sign after he had signed it. I didn’t go looking for it. But it was hard not to miss. It took up half a page.”
    “We’re just friends,” I said.
    “But he’d like to be more,” Mike chimed in. “And he said something about an incident. What’s that all about?”
    I wasn’t about to tell Mike that J.R. tried to kiss me one night while we were playing pool at his house. He backed off as soon as I turned away. J.R. apologized over and over and I told him to just forget it. I was OK. Everything was cool.  
    “Come on, Mike,” I said. “I don’t know what incident J.R. was referring to, and I’d much rather talk about us.”
    “You’re right,” Mike said.  “I’m sorry I even brought it up. Let’s find our tree.”
    We walked hand-in-hand into the woods and found our tree. I ran my hands over the words we had carved in the rough bark. “Mike and Gina forever.” I smiled. I’ll always remember that night. It was the first time we told each other that we loved one another.  Mike wanted to record it for all eternity. So he dug out the pocketknife he had gotten in Scouts and carved our names, enclosing them in a heart.
    “It’s never going away,” said Mike, unzipping the blue sleeping bag. “Just like I’m never going away.”
    Mike spread the sleeping bag out with the plaid liner facing