October

~ or, approximately three million, one-hundred and fifty-six thousand seconds since Deni left Thunder Bay in the summer, if trusting Hunter's math ~

It takes every bit of self-restraint I have to stay in the back seat of Mom's Range Rover. My fingers itch to pull the door handle so I can leap out to the curb, make a mad dash inside of the airport terminal, and not stop until I find Hunter and I'm flinging my arms around him. It's sweet torture that he's so close to me at this very moment, with his mom, waiting for their suitcases, and I can't yet be with him.

Correction: Technically, I could be with him. There is nothing physically preventing me from going in there, and I doubt Mom would stop me if I was set on doing it. The consequences of doing it are what holds me back.

I fidget in my seat, weighing the pros and cons in my mind. In a normal world, and if I had a normal life, I would have been waiting at the baggage carousel for Hunter before he even got off the plane.

"Maybe I should go in and make sure they can find us," I say.

Mom and I both know I won't set foot outside the vehicle, though, even if patience and me aren't besties right now. It's been impossible for me to blend into a crowd for the last several months, and Hunter's first minutes in Los Angeles don't need to include being mobbed at LAX while camera flashes go off everywhere. I'd like to get him and his mom out of here and to my house in one piece. After that, with all forces of the universe willing, Hunter can ease into the reality of what dating me while being at ground zero for the paparazzi means. He's had a taste of public exposure and intrusion while living far away from all of this, but he hasn't yet been swarmed by the paps while going about his daily life. I'd rather he not experience that during this visit, in case it gives him cold feet about moving here for school.

"They'll find us. They know what type of vehicle to look for, and I sent Melanie the license plate number." There's suppressed laughter in Mom's voice.

I check my phone for what has to be the twentieth time in the last minute, in case Hunter has texted me again since his flight landed. There's nothing new from him, and so I put the phone down and resign myself to staring out the window until he appears.

"I see them," Mom says. The three words wake up a whole kaleidoscope of butterflies in my stomach. I don't calm down any when Mom presses a button to open the back hatch of the Range Rover so Hunter and his mom can put their suitcases inside.

I twist around in my seat to watch them approach. Okay, who am I fooling? I like Melanie a lot, but I'm only watching Hunter and silently marveling about how good it is to see his golden-brown hair glimmering in the California sunshine. We've FaceTimed every day since saying goodbye weeks ago at the airport in Thunder Bay, and our text messages must make up the equivalent of three novels by this point, but seeing him in the flesh is still like an oasis after a long trek through the desert.

"Hi!" I greet him over the seat once he reaches the back of the Range Rover.

Hunter's mouth curves into the most heart-melting grin, revealing the dimple in his cheek that gets me every time I see it. He hoists his suitcase into the back of the vehicle.

"Hi back. Give me one sec." He puts his mom's suitcase in, too, then closes the hatch. It's only a few more seconds before he opens the door to the back seat and gets in beside me. I don't know what it is about him and me, but I swear the air becomes charged with something electric when we're this close together.

Melanie climbs into the front passenger seat and greets Mom and me. I smile at her and say hello, but then my attention goes straight back to Hunter, who I don't think has stopped looking at me even once since he shut the door. He leans over to hug me and kisses my forehead.

It isn't the kind of kiss I most want right now, but I know why he goes with that and not the lips-locked-until-we-can't-breathe embrace I've been imagining for the last few days. We have a mom audience, and neither of our moms are being subtle about it. A proper hello will have to wait until we get to my house. The only thing that makes this tolerable is the fact that Hunter and his mom are staying with us and that he and I can spend most waking hours of his visit together.

"Welcome to my city," I murmur to him. My hand slips into his so we're palm to palm. He inches closer to me on the seat, and the side of his leg not-so-accidentally grazes mine. I rest my head against his shoulder. This is perfection.

"Soon to be our city, I hope." He gently squeezes my hand, which sends sparks of joy dancing up my arm.

"What do you want to do first in our city?" I ask.

"Hmmm." It's all he says out loud, but then he looks at me, the corners of his mouth twitching, and I know we're thinking the same thing. He uses the hand that isn't holding mine to take his phone out of his pocket. After he taps the screen a couple of times and types something with one hand, he passes the phone to me.

The first thing I want to do is kiss you for real. It doesn't matter what we do after that, as long as I'm with you.

This boy. Does he realize those words are turning me into a puddle of lovestruck goo? It's possible he does, since the adoring expression on his face makes me suspect he might also be a puddle of lovestruck goo.

Soon, I type under what he wrote. But not soon enough. I hand the phone back to him. He reads my reply and nods his agreement, then sets the phone down on the seat.

The stop-and-go traffic we've been in since leaving LAX is maddening, but I'd rather be here, holding hands, passing notes to each other on his phone, than be thousands of miles apart.

"I think we should drive down to Laguna Beach on one of the days you're here," I say, if for no other reason than to keep the moms from asking why we've suddenly gone quiet. I sneak a glance at the front seat. Mom seems occupied with weaving in and out of traffic, and Melanie is checking out the passing scenery.

"I'd love to see it." Hunter flips my hand over in his and begins tracing slow circles over my palm. I close my eyes and hope he gets my telepathic message to keep doing exactly what he's doing until we get to my house.

"It's a bit of a drive, but it's worth it." The distance is the point. Laguna Beach will put about an hour and a half between us and the moms, both ways, and give us time alone together. "When are your school tours?"

"Monday and Tuesday. I don't want to think about that yet, since those are the last days I'm here."

I don't want to think about it either, considering today is Friday and Hunter and Melanie leave on the midnight flight on Tuesday night. This is a short trip, because Hunter can't be out of school for days on end during his senior year and I only have a few days off from band rehearsals since we have shows coming up.

Hunter's phone buzzes. He continues tracing circles on my palm while he casts his gaze downward to read what's on the screen.

"Paisley says hi," he tells me.

"Is she still mad that she isn't on this trip?"

"Maybe a little bit, but I think she mostly got over it when you invited her to the awards show next month. She's already obsessed with finding something to wear and it's all she talks about with Brooke."

"My plan worked, then. She'll have the time of her life."

"I think she's plotting out how to be discovered on the red carpet, become famous, and move here." Hunter sounds exasperated, but I can tell he's also amused.

"Do you want to see the Hollywood sign?" I ask. "It will be in view of us in just a minute."

"Do I have to stop looking at you to see it?" His question is quiet enough that our moms may not have heard it, but heat still rises to my cheeks at his words and the sparkle in his eyes.

"You'll have to look out the window to the right."

He scrunches up his nose for a second, but then he shifts his gaze to the window. I point out other landmarks and places we might want to visit while he's here as Mom navigates us through the mid-afternoon traffic. Playing tour guide for a while keeps me distracted, and it also keeps my patience for getting Hunter to myself in check.

We're soon driving up the narrow, winding roads in the Hollywood Hills that take us home. It's all I can do to keep from applauding when we finally turn on to my street and the closed gates to my driveway come into view. The street is quiet, thankfully, with no visible paparazzi staked out anywhere today.

"We're here," I tell Hunter.

"Do you live in a fortress?" There's a teasing lilt in his voice as he watches the heavy gates open in front of us.

I know why he describes what he sees as a fortress. You can't see my house from the street because of the tall gates and thick hedges everywhere, and that is intentional. Every house on this street is secluded, and a few addresses, including mine, are marked out on Hollywood star maps. I'll take all the privacy I can get when I'm at home, especially with Hunter here.

"It's a good place to hide out," I answer.

Mom slows the Range Rover to a stop as we reach the end of the driveway. I'm more than ready to get the heck out of here the second she puts it in park, but Hunter stays put and pulls a small tin from his pocket, taking his time as he pops what appears to be a mint or some sort of candy into his mouth.

I tug on his hand. "We're free now. Congratulations on surviving your first ride through L.A. traffic. Want to open that door?"

He chuckles and reaches for the door handle. "Are you in a hurry to take me somewhere?"

As if he isn't in the same rush I am to get away from our moms for a bit. I'll play his game, though. I release his hand and lean against the seat.

"Nah. We can stay here in the car and look at the house all day if you want to."

"The house isn't what I'm looking at." He peers straight into my eyes while he says this. The butterflies inside me come alive again.

Hunter finally breaks eye contact to open the door and get out of the vehicle, then he offers me his hand to help me out. Once the suitcases are out of the back, all of us are finally on our way to the house.

Aflie is at door when we open it, ready to be the welcoming committee. He bounces all over Hunter from the moment he steps inside and completely ignores Mom, Melanie, and me.

"Alfie, my man!" Hunter crouches down to Alfie's level, much to my dog's delight. Alfie is a blur of tail-wagging and hopping, and once he reaches Hunter's face, he's all over him.

"Hey Alfie, do you want to go outside?" I ask.

That gets his attention. My dog remembers I exist and launches himself out of Hunter's arms to come jump up at me.

"Let's take him out back," I suggest. "I can show you the pool, and we can come back and take your suitcase upstairs later." My escape plan from the moms is about to be set in motion.

"Lead the way," Hunter replies.

"We'll be back," I tell Mom and Melanie.

I should win an award for the performance I put on to stay casual and walk at a normal pace, all while fighting the urge to grab Hunter's arm and haul him through the house to the doors that lead to the backyard. The relief I feel when we step outside, alone, is indescribable.

"That's a nice pool," Hunter comments. "Is that a jacuzzi over there?"

"It is, and we can go in it later. I think there's something over there I should show you first." I nudge my chin at a spot to the left of us. "Behind the cabana, I mean."

Anything directly behind the cabana is obscured from view of the house. While our moms probably aren't at any of the windows, I'd still like the privacy just in case. I don't know if he catches on to this, but it doesn't matter, because he's right behind me as I make my way over there.

"What's behind the cabana?" he asks, all innocence.

"Me. And you. And this." I loop my arms around his neck.

"This?" He pretends to be confused and I swear to everything that if he makes me wait one more minute, I'm going to pull him over to the pool and push him in. I might do it anyway.

"Hunter."

He lowers his head and stops when there's only an inch or two of space between his face and mine. "I'm kidding, Cali."

"What are you going to call me when you also live in Cal--"

I don't get to finish the last word of my question, because he closes the gap between us, pressing his mouth against mine. Our kiss is soft at first, and then deepens as my lips part under his and his tongue sweeps across my bottom lip. He tastes like spearmint and sugar, an intoxicating sweetness that takes over my senses along with the light fragrance of his shampoo and the soapy scent of his skin.

My hands take on a life of their own, running wild through his hair, and the strands are just as soft as I remembered them. A few million seconds or however many there have been between when we last did this and now melt away in an instant. Everything feels like little firecrackers, and nothing else exists for the moment outside of him and me and my backyard and this long-awaited kiss on a perfect L.A. afternoon.

Everything is right in my world, if only for a few days. But as long as Hunter's visit goes well and his mom is also sold on him moving here for school, our months of a long-distance relationship will soon become a future of living in the same city. I can't wait until it happens.