The Genetic Code

Chapter 27

Juliette

Waves of nostalgia roll through me, shaking me to my core.

The air is crisp and clear, though chilly. We don't hear the sounds of birds and cicadas, at this time of year, though the scent of pine wafts through the air, strong as ever.

Still, this place hasn't lost its charms for me. The abandoned pool lot. New layers of graffiti are scrawled over the concrete, adding new colors, new pictures, new stories...

I used to have to drag Alex out here with me, much to his discontent. Now I'm brought here by another boy, completely unaware of the history I have in this place, the laughs and memories shared with the one I used to think I would wind up marrying and raising seventeen kids with. How ironic.

As soon as I turn around, Alex is the furthest thing from my mind, as I see Sterling standing there, hands in his jacket pockets, with his tousled hair and slight unshaven jaw that can cut butter and sparkling grey eyes resting on me, a small smile curled on his lips.

This amazing boy is my present, a part of my forgotten past, and I really hope for the dear life of me, my future. He knows me better than anyone, even myself, reading my innermost desires like it's a catalogue at a dentist's office. It's like he barely even has to try, and somehow manages to say exactly what I want him to say, takes me places I didn't even know I wanted to go to, and most importantly, gives me the only thing I really want from any boy — his sincere heart.

"I wanted to bring you to a new exciting place to surprise you. I guess not much of a surprise now, is it?" he says smirkingly, backtracking towards the limo. "That's alright. There are still other ways I can surprise you."

I raise a questioning brow. Sterling flips open the trunk, retrieving a few metal cans. He holds one in his left hand and jingles it in front of me... Spray paint?

"No way..."

"You've been here before. Don't tell me you've never actually tried adding some colors to the walls?"

Alex would've never let me. 'Laws' and 'vandalism' and all that.

Of course I can't tell Sterling that, unless I want Caveman Crawford to make an uninvited guest appearance to our date, so instead I just shake my head.

He smirks again. "Well then today's your lucky day," he whispers into my ear as he passes me.

He places the cans of spray paint at the edge of the empty pool, and walks back toward me.

"It's cold," he mumbles, proceeding to unfasten the bottom half of the zipper of his puffy black jacket he's wearing over his uniform.

"Why're you talking off your jacket then, Einstein?"

He simply stares down at me past his long eyelashes not saying anything while shrugging the jacket off each shoulder. Getting behind me, he tosses the winter jacket over my shoulders and saunters away with a smug grin on his lips.

I open my mouth to protest but I know that it'll prove a waste of breath. I was cold anyway. So I begrudgingly accept the much oversized jacket and slip my arms through the sleeves, letting the excess material hang over my hands.

"I think I prefer your white shirt, though," I say in the most seductive voice I can muster, ending up sounding more like I just ran a marathon while constipated and now need both an oxygen mask and laxatives.

Sterling looks at me in shock for a few seconds, then breaks out into a short fit of laughter before regaining his composure with a simper on his face.