Chapter 2

It was almost 10 o'clock before Mark returned home, his parent's wondering where he'd been. He made up an excuse that he'd been over at a friends house and had forgotten the time. Truth was, he'd been out riding his bike, going nowhere in particular, aimlessly thinking about what had happened. After listening to his mother chirp at him for not calling, and then her making up for it by asking him if he was hungry (which he was definitely not), he told them that he was going to bed. He passed by the living room on his way, and glancing in, saw his sister curled up on the couch, watching TV. She looked up at him with a concerned expression, but he didn't stop walking. Climbing out of his clothes and jumping into his bed, Mark fell almost immediately asleep, exhausted and drained.

It was almost noon the next morning before Mark finally woke up, having slept hard and sound all night. He sat up in his bed and flicked on the clock radio on the night stand. He started to think about the day, and immediately flashed back to the day before. He had been sitting for only a few minutes when he heard a light knock on his door.

"Who is it?" He asked.

"It's me". Called back Sara through the door, "Can I come in?"

"Just a minute." He called back, hopping out of bed and quickly throwing on some shorts from his drawer. He walked over and opened the door, Sara standing there looking upset. She followed him into his room, shutting the door behind them as she entered. Mark walked back over to his dresser before turning around to see her still standing by the closed door.

"Mark... ?" She started, "Are you..."

She broke her gaze him him and looked down at the floor and continued, "Are you... mad at me?"

"MAD at you?" He replied in disbelief.

"Yeah, you know, about yesterday... um... at the pool?" She said. "What I mean is... umm... well, when I came back after I answered the phone you weren't there. And then I realized that you weren't even in the house, and I... " Her voice trailed off.

"No, god no. I'm not mad at you. It was just that..." He started to apologize to her, not really knowing for what. Taking advantage of her in some way he supposed; his guilt feeling heavy at the moment.

"It's just that... , " he started again before Sara interrupted him.

"I wanted to do that." She stated, still looking down, but raising her eyes to him looking for approval, "Really."

He was touched by her sincerity and didn't know what to say.

"I liked it... "She added, "... alot."

"Oh." He said, attempting to sound calm, reluctant to admit how much he had enjoyed the experience.

"I'd like to... , " Sara stammered out, "I mean... well... if you ever want to... umm..."