Stolen Candy
LILY
I thought this summer was the best summer of my life…until I caught Olly cheating. Then nothing felt real.
Then I met Mason.
These past three weeks have been the best summer I’ve ever had. Every single morning Mason comes and wakes me up, then we go running.
During the day, we hang out at my house swimming in the pool all day. At night, he usually goes home after dinner to see his sisters.
That’s when I try to get Harry or Ava to come hang out. Harry has a few times, but he’s been spending a lot of time with Jonah, and I haven’t seen Ava since we went for ice cream.
Apparently, she met someone at a skateboard shop from Christ’s College and is trying to get him to fall for her.
Today is the first day I’m up and ready, waiting for Mason to arrive. And today’s the day I finally run the whole trail without stopping.
At exactly 5:45 a.m., Mason pulls up and jogs up my stairs. I wait until he’s about to knock on the door before I fling it open, giving him a fright.
“That wasn’t very nice, princess,” he fake-scolds, clutching his chest.
“Who said I was nice?” I laugh.
“True.” He chuckles as we make our way to his car. “Why are you up so early?” Mason asks once he starts the short drive.
“Because today I am not going to stop,” I state confidently.
“I reckon you could’ve not stopped two weeks ago,” he replies, and I send him a glare.
Every single time I would stop, he would say, “You didn’t need to stop, princess,” or “Come on, you had it,” or his favorite, “I don’t think you actually want to do this, princess.”
“Nope, I would’ve died.” I sigh dramatically as he pulls into the parking lot.
“Sure, keep telling yourself that.” He laughs.
“Just you watch,” I state.
Mason and I run together in silence until we get to the part where I normally start complaining and stop. To be fair, I want to stop, but I’m not going to.
“You sure you got this?” He smirks, picking up the pace a little.
“I got this.” I puff, pushing my body to keep going.
As we near the end, I look over at Mason, who’s starting to look tired too. “Race ya.” I smirk before taking off into a sprint like he does to me every day.
“What?” I hear him yell from behind me.
Just as I’m about to step off the trail, arms wrap around my stomach, picking me up off the ground and spinning me around.
“Put me down.” I laugh as he keeps spinning me.
“You cheated.” Mason puffs as he puts me back on my feet. The second his arms leave my body, I instantly miss them and want them back.
“You’ve cheated every day for the past month,” I counter.
“I would never,” he gasps, looking at me offended, making me laugh harder.
“You’ve nearly done everything on your list,” he says as we walk slowly back to his car.
“Almost,” I smile proudly. Never in a million years did I think I would be completing a bucket list with Mason Cooper, and actually enjoying it.
“My sisters are out all day and tonight,” he comments casually as he drives us back to my house.
“Are you inviting me for a sleepover?” I gasp, making him roll his eyes.
“OMG, please have a sleepover with me,” he says in his best teenage-girl voice, even fluttering his eyelashes.
“Fine, you twisted my arm,” I laugh.
“Do you want me to come pick you up after I drop my sisters off?” Mason asks as he pulls into my driveway.
“Just text me. I’ll walk around,” I decline.
“If you’re sure…” he draws out.
“I’m sure,” I laugh, rolling my eyes before climbing out of his car and running up the stairs inside.
I jump straight into the shower and change into a dress before going downstairs to make some toast. Once I’ve finished eating and cleaning up, my phone rings.
My mom’s face appears on the screen.
“Hey, Mom!” I smile, sitting on the kitchen counter.
“Hi, Lily,” she greets. “We’re making our way home now.”
“You’ll be home today?” I ask, disappointment filling me that I won’t be able to spend the day with Mason.
“No. We won’t be home until Sunday. Probably around lunchtime if traffic isn’t too bad,” she says, and I’m relieved.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited to see my parents, I just selfishly want to spend the last two days of the summer with Mason.
“Oh, okay,” I reply, trying to sound sad.
“I’d better go. I’ll see you Sunday.”
“Bye, Mom, I love you,” I say, waiting for her to say “I love you” back, but she doesn’t. She simply hangs up.
Before I know it, I’m full-on sobbing, sitting on my kitchen counter all alone.
I let myself cry for a bit before I decide that’s enough and I need to stop acting like a child wanting her mommy to say “I love you.”
I jump off the counter and go back into the bathroom to clean my face. My eyes are red and still watery. The rest of my face has turned a not very flattering shade of red.
After I’m satisfied I look semi-decent, I check my phone, seeing Mason texted.
M
I’m just dropping them off now…you sure you don’t want a ride?
I smile and roll my eyes as I read his texts.
Me
Fine you can pick me up 😜
I quickly run up stairs to my bedroom, grabbing a small bag, and chuck my phone, wallet, and keys in before I go sit on the porch waiting to be picked up.
The second I see his black car turn the corner, I race down the four stairs into the driveway, and as he pulls into the drive, I pull open the passenger door and jump straight in.
“Someone’s eager,” Mason laughs as I do my belt up.
“What can I say? I’m excited for a sleepover,” I smile.
Secretly, I’m hoping for a repeat of what happened last time I stayed over, just with no interruptions.
Neither of us brought up the kiss, even though I really, really wanted to. But as time went on, I felt too awkward and embarrassed too.
“I found Tayla’s stash of candy,” Mason smirks as he pulls into his driveway.
“You’re mean,” I laugh.
“Meh, she’ll get over it,” he brushes it off, unlocking his front door.
“What are we doing today?” I ask.
“I’ll show you,” he says, nodding toward the stairs.
I follow Mason up the stairs into his bedroom, where I drop my bag onto the bedside table and sit on the bed while he rifles around in his closet.
“Got it,” he smiles, turning around to reveal a blue bong clutched between his hands.
“We’re getting high?” I ask with raised brows.
“Yup. And we’re eating all of Tayla’s candy,” he smirks, coming to sit on the bed next to me and opening the bedside drawer.
“You want to go first?” he asks as he puts the weed in his hand into the little silver circle.
“You can,” I shake my head, wanting to watch how he does it.
He grabs a water bottle off his bedside table and fills the bottom of the bong halfway with water. Mason nods and gets up off the bed and goes to stand by his open window.
I watch intently as he flicks the lighter and burns the weed as he sucks in the smoke before pulling the silver stick out.
Once he’s blown the smoke out of the window, he holds the bong out to me.
I slowly make my way over to him, hoping I don’t embarrass myself. I repeat exactly what he did and end up coughing a little bit—not as much as I did with the joint, but still some.
“Want to watch Aladdin?” Mason asks, taking the bong back and placing it on the windowsill.
“I think you have a secret love for Disney movies,” I giggle, dropping back down onto the bed.
“Disney’s the shit,” he laughs, falling down next to me and opening the drawer again.
I watch with an open mouth as he pulls out candy packet after candy packet. There must be at least twenty different types laid out between us.
“There’s no way we can eat all this!” I exclaim, picking up a pack of Twizzlers.
“We have to,” he states, and I give him a questioning look. “Petty revenge,” he half-explains.
“Are you going to explain the rest?” I ask, opening the bag in my hands.
“Nope.” Mason smiles widely. “Do you have any siblings?” he asks, leaning back against the headboard.
“Just me.” I shake my head.
Growing up, I always wanted a younger brother or sister. Now I’m glad I don’t. With Mom and Dad traveling, I’d probably be stuck looking after them.
“It’s weird ’cause you love them, but at the same time you hate them.” He chuckles, watching the TV as he puts on the movie.
Mason and I watch movies all day and well into the night, ordering pizza and demolishing his sister’s candy stash quite easily.
We’ve just finished watching some horror film when he rolls over to his side to face me.
“Hey, Lily?” he mumbles as the credits of the movie start playing.
“Yeah?” I whisper, turning onto my side to look at him.
“I think you’re really beautiful,” he whispers, locking our eyes as much as he can through the dark room.
“I think you’re really beautiful too,” I whisper back, glad it’s dark and he can’t see me blushing.
“Handsome,” he corrects with a chuckle. “If I kissed you right now, would you push me away?” he asks lowly.
“No,” I whisper, moving my body slightly closer to his.
“I really like you,” Mason whispers so quietly I almost don’t hear him before his lips are softly pressed against mine.
I gently kiss him back, wrapping my fingers around the hair at the bottom of his neck.
His arm wraps around my hips, pulling me against his body. Mason’s tongue gently traces my bottom lip, and I instantly open my mouth for him.
Our tongues brush against each other’s slowly, neither one of us speeding things up.
I slowly drag the tips of my fingers down Mason’s neck to the collar of his shirt, making his whole body shiver and pull away from me.
“We should get some sleep,” he mumbles, rolling onto his back.
“Okay. Good night,” I whisper, rolling onto my back as well.
I frown slightly, looking up at the roof, wondering why he pulled away from me. Am I a bad kisser? Is that why Oliver cheated on me?
