Free #1.5 Finding Autumn by Heather Topham Wood

bond at risk. Often, I tried to be the perfect son, and spazzing out about a girl wouldn’t make him happy.
    Remaining silent, I walked over to my bed. I sat down, and he took a seat on the other end of the mattress. He gave me a curious stare, and I figured he wouldn’t leave until I told him what was bothering me.
    “There’s a girl at school….” I allowed my voice to trail off.
    “And?” Thomas prompted.
    “There’s a dance coming up, and I want to ask her, but I’m afraid she’ll stay no.”
    His blue eyes widened with surprise. “Why the hell would she tell you no?”
    I drew my shoulders down, trying to downplay my crush. “She’s a sophomore and might not want to go to a freshman dance. And she’s pretty, so I bet a lot of boys are asking her.”
    “Good thing you’re a man and not a boy.” His voice filled with authority, and I found myself nodding automatically. My mother never won an argument with him because every word he spoke was with complete confidence. It was hard to fight with a man who sounded like he had an unshakeable faith in his convictions.
    “It’s just a stupid dance. I don’t even care about it.”
    Thomas frowned. “If the dance is important to you, don’t demean it by calling it stupid.”
    “Can we not talk about this? It’s really not a big deal.” I stretched out my long legs in front of me. I’d grown six inches over the summer and was still feeling a little clumsy in my new frame.
    “You can come to me about girls. I know you don’t talk much to your mom about… well, anything, but that’s not us. You’re going to have questions about girls and sex and you need to be able to talk about it.”
    I flicked a piece of lint off of my gray athletic t-shirt. “Sorry if I don’t want to talk about sex with the guy married to my mom.”
    Thomas chuckled and slapped his thigh. “Good point. You may find it hard to believe, but I used to be your age.”
    “And you had problems getting girls?”
    “Of course not.” Thomas shook his head. He regarded me closely. “You’re good at ball, right? Girls flock to football players. When I was playing high school and college ball, I never had a problem getting dates.”
    I was trying to let his confidence rub off on me. I had no problem feeling like I was the shit during a game. Football hadn’t been a natural gift. I worked my ass off to be the best on the field. I was a freshman, and although I wasn’t starting for the varsity team, I was in the secondary. My spot as a starting running back next year was a sure thing.
    Girls like Kerri Tomson were less of a sure thing. I didn’t know how to talk to girls and although I shared gym and a lunch period with her, I was never able to mutter more than an awkward hi.
    “This girl that’s giving you blue balls got a name?”
    I rolled my eyes. “Kerri.” I was growing accustomed to the crass way Thomas would talk when we were alone. I figured it was his way to differentiate our guy talks with the way he treated my mom and sister. He was softer with me when I was a kid, but since I had hit puberty, our relationship evolved. My thought was he wanted to be the “cool dad” and not bother with a filter when it came to dispensing advice. 
    “Want to get Kerri to go out with you? Then take control of the situation. Go up to her and tell her you’re taking her to the dance.” Thomas urged. “Say it like you mean it, too. She’ll eat it up, and when she tells her friends about you, you’ll have girls getting into catfights to date you.”
    I laughed at the visual. “I’ll try it.”
    “Okay, and when she agrees to go out with you, come let me know. I’ll save you the embarrassment of buying your own condoms.” Slapping my back heartily, he then got to his feet.
    My face flamed, but I tried to keep my expression neutral and hoped he didn’t catch my embarrassment. I didn’t want a sex talk with my pseudo-dad. I appreciated Thomas likely much more than he suspected. I