One Night Sin - Maddy & Declan (A Forbidden Love Story)

The end of the beginning

*** DECLAN

I get back home just as my mom and stepdad are leaving. They look harried, so I guess something's up. They take a quick look at me, almost like they're confused I'm here at first, and then my mom comes running down the front walkway to give me a hug.

"Declan! You're here. How was your flight? Did everything go well?" she asks.

"Yeah, uh... about that," I say before telling her everything.

I mean, let's be honest for a second... I don't tell her everything. I don't tell her that I was ogling my stepsister in her sleep this morning. Or last night. Or whenever. I know what happens when you say something like that, alright? I learned my lesson years ago when I first went to confession, and I'm not really up for a repeat of old history.

I just tell her about the flight, how my luggage got lost. I decide to kind of lie about where I stayed last night. I didn't have my key so I stayed with a friend. Yeah, let's go with that. It's a lie of omission, and I really shouldn't have said it, but I'd just rather not get a glare from my stepdad if I tell him that I slept out back on the sun porch with Maddy. Maddy's kind of my friend, so it's not like I'm completely lying, either. Maybe? Who knows.

My stepdad comes over and gives me a hug, too. He looks grim about the loss of my luggage, but it's cool. Don't worry about it, guys. It's coming. I'll get it back, I swear.

"Sorry to make this reunion short," he says. "We need to head to the nursing home. There's a norovirus outbreak and a lot of the staff are getting sick, too. Everything should be fine, but it's a hassle to deal with so they're asking for volunteers to help out."

"Got it," I say. "I'll pray for you."

My mom beams, and my stepdad gives me this kind of satisfied nod. I don't think I did anything special, but I know that's the kind of thing people like to hear sometimes. I'm going to be honest and say that I don't know if God cares about a norovirus outbreak in a nursing home. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying he doesn't care. I just mean that I'm kind of skeptical that he'd do anything besides letting it run its course. It should work its way through the place in a matter of days or maybe a week at the most, so that's all there really is to it. Hopefully everyone makes it out fine. I have faith.

Praying is cool, though. I think the important part of prayer is that people know you're in their thoughts. That's the part that makes sense to me. God might not actually do anything about it, but people know you're thinking about them and that makes them feel better. Sometimes that's the only thing you can really do for someone, you know?

"Oh! Here's my key," my mom says, reaching into her purse and pulling out this monstrosity of a keyring. She finagles the whole thing, finally working the house key off its ring, and she hands it to me.

"There's money for you and Maddy on the kitchen counter," my stepdad adds. "Order out for dinner if you want. I left a credit card so you can go grocery shopping if you need to, too."

"Alright, cool," I say, accepting my responsibilities.

Don't lose the key. Order dinner with Maddy. Maybe go grocery shopping. Got it. I can do this.

They leave eventually. My mom keeps hugging me and kissing me on the cheek until my stepdad finally manages to pull her away and lead her to the car. She waves frantically after me as they drive away, though. Yeah, that's my mom. I love her, but she gets a little too excited sometimes. I don't even want to tell you about the first time she showed up at my school for that parent career day thing they do.

Now that I can actually get inside, it's not as exciting. That's how it always is, don't you think? If you can't do something, it seems infinitely better. Like how I was stuck outside last night, and... nah, that's not a good example. I'd sleep outside every night if I got to sleep next to Maddy. I get that we weren't exactly sleeping with each other or right next to each other, but whatever. Don't judge me.

I'm just glad to finally be able to get into my own house. It's just not as exciting once I'm inside, that's all. No big deal.

I head up to my room first to change my clothes. I should take a shower while I'm at it, too. I fully plan on doing those two things, but something stops me before I get too far into it. Just sitting there on my bed, all immaculate and pristine, is a letter. It's got my name on it in familiar script.

I open up the letter and unfold the note inside. It's from Father Patch. I'm going to "too long; didn't read" this note for you and tell you that he wants me to come to the church this morning because he has something important to discuss with me. Maybe I can help him out this summer with some things and get experience for the future.

And, you know what? That's a great idea, especially since I wanted to go to confession today. Plus, if I'm working in the church I'll be a lot less tempted to hang out with Maddy, which will just be a lot less temptation in my life altogether. Sometimes you have to distract yourself, you know? This is that.

So yeah, that's what I do. Before I go, I make a fresh pot of coffee and pour myself a cup. Maddy's still sleeping, but I'm sure she'll appreciate hot coffee. Then I take a shower, I get dressed, and I head to the church. It's not that far away. Pretty nice walk, actually.

That's the only nice thing about this, though. Everything that happens afterwards is basically extremely terrible. It's the beginning of the end.

God, please forgive me...

***

This is kind of the end of the intro, if you will.

The next story arc is going to start soon!

And, um... it gets a little awkward, so...

Good luck, Declan?

Let me know what you think so far!

(And don't forget to vote!)