Lu had never been on a motorcycle, but she knew what she would have to do if she took him up on his offer. She'd seen a girl in the neighborhood riding behind her boyfriend, her arms around his waist, her legs on either side of him, the front of her body pressed against his back. Whenever they sped past Lu on the street, they were laughing and they seemed to be having so much fun that Lu had envied them. Now all she could think of was Mama saying that the girl was a disgrace.

Ricky threw his leg over the machine like he was John Wayne climbing up on his horse, and settled in to the seat. “Hop on,” he said. “It's real easy to balance. All you have to do is hold on to me, and …” But he stopped in the middle of his sentence, and she knew they were both thinking about where her arms would go … and her legs. Ricky's face reddened. “Hey, if you'd rather not…”

“No,” she said quickly. “I want to.” And she wasn't lying. She pulled her dress up above her knees so she could sit behind him.

It took only a couple of turns around the parking lot for her to learn how to balance. She held herself erect and made sure there was a distance between herself and Ricky; not at all like the girl in the neighborhood. But she did have to hold on to him. And she did have to move her body with his in a way she'd never done before—not even when she was dancing. Mama would have said she was a disgrace. But Mama wasn't there. They roared out of the parking lot and headed south on a road that hugged the shoreline.

“Where are we going?” Lu shouted into the wind.

“Savin Rock,” he shouted back.

Savin Rock was known as a place where boys took their sweethearts.

The amusement park wasn't far from the Villa Veneto; Lu and Ricky could have walked it. But sitting behind him on the motorcycle, she could feel the warmth of his back as they roared along the road, and watch the wind ruffle the curls at the back of his neck. Curls she could have touched. They went around a curve and she held him a little more tightly.

When they finally stopped in the heart of Savin Rock, Ricky seemed a little quiet, as if something had happened on the ride that he hadn't been expecting. He parked the motorcycle, lit another cigarette, and smoked it in silence, while she breathed in the fresh salt air and waited for him to make up his mind about what he wanted to do next. Finally, just as she was about to ask if he'd changed his mind and wanted to go back to Villa Veneto, he grabbed her hand and they started wandering down the street.