My Boyfriends' Dogs by Dandi Daley Mackall Page B

okay?”
    â€œDon’t say it like it’s a disease. It’s a gift.” Her voice softened. “And you only get to give it once.”
    â€œI know. But I love him, Mom. I’ve never felt like this.”
    Her fingers tightened on the wheel. “You may love lots of guys before you find the guy, Bailey. Are you going to have sex with all of them?”
    â€œSome people do,” I muttered, thinking of Carly.
    â€œYou’re not one of them,” she said simply.
    â€œWell, maybe I wish I were.”
    Her head snapped around. “Bailey Daley, you don’t mean that! Do you want to go around leaving pieces of yourself with every guy you think you’re in love with? Is that what you want? Because that’s what happens.” She made a sharp U-turn and headed back toward home.
    â€œMaybe I don’t know what I want.”
    â€œWell, I know what you want!” She was getting crazy. This wasn’t “Big D.” She was screaming at me like regular moms—and I didn’t like it one bit.
    â€œYou don’t know what I want!” I shouted back. “How could you?”
    â€œI know that you want to be happily married. I know—”
    â€œI’m not talking about marriage! I’m sixteen. I’m talking about keeping the only boyfriend I’ve ever had. I’m talking about doing what everybody else is already doing.”
    â€œBailey!” Mom screamed. “Do you hear yourself?” She almost missed our street and had to turn so sharply the tires screeched.
    â€œYeah. I hear myself. And it’s a good thing because nobody else in this van does.”
    She pulled into the driveway and slammed the brakes. “Bailey, don’t you dare have sex with that boy! Wait until—”
    But I didn’t let her finish. “ You didn’t wait, but you want me to?”
    â€œBailey!”
    â€œWell, it’s true. So what gives you the right to tell me to wait?” I stumbled out of the van before she had the engine off. I should have known better than to think she’d understand. She wasn’t my sister or my friend. She was just my mother.
    Â 
    The next few days, Mom and I were painfully polite. I apologized for the crack about her not waiting to have sex. She’d always been straight with me about “having to get married,” but she’d never let me feel like I’d been an accident or a regret. She’d convinced me that I was God’s gift to her, no matter what the route.
    But even my apology and her acceptance couldn’t wipe out the tension between us. Something had changed. Maybe it had changed the day Went walked into my life, the instant I’d stepped over that invisible line and convinced him to run away from Carly with me.
    And now, I couldn’t help but think that there was another invisible line I had to cross to keep Went away from Carly.

12
    Sunday night with only a week of school left, Went and I sat on the hood of his car, a thick blanket beneath us and a blanket of stars above us. His arms locked around me, we melted into each other, into our own world. I leaned back against his chest and listened to his heart beat. “Went?”
    He pressed his cheek to mine and stroked my hair. “Hmmm?”
    â€œCould we do something this weekend? ” The last two Saturdays I hadn’t even seen him. He’d hung out with Dave’s crew . . . and Carly, although he never mentioned her when he gave his brief reports on his weekend activities.
    â€œWhy? Did Big Barry get a new movie in?” he teased.
    â€œWe could go into Larkfield,” I suggested, snuggling even closer. The night had grown crisp, but I felt warm in his arms. I could have stayed like this forever.
    â€œSure. We could take in a Larkfield flick Friday night.”
    My chest tightened. Friday night. “If we went on Saturday afternoon, we’d get a discount. Then maybe we could go to the