at her. Don’t look into her deep brown eyes… her golden browns. Don’t pay attention to her smile creating that extra dimple only I know she has. Don’t drool over how her shirt comes up a bit in the front, letting me see her bellybutton. Don’t look at her great rack. Don’t breathe in her scent. Her candy apple and cinnamon scent.
But that’s all I do. We lock eyes and stare at each other, and it’s not awkward. At least for me it isn’t. And the sensation I had this morning comes back ten times stronger. I need her. I need to feel her lips against mine. Taste her lip gloss. Know what it feels to have her this close without holding back. I need her to need me too.
I’m about .08 seconds from leaning in, then her gaze flicks a little bit North , and the spell lifts off me.
She slips her hand from underneath my grasp an d runs a finger over the scar on my eyebrow.
“ I still can’t believe you let Nate push you off the roof.” She smiles.
I chuckle and roll off her, staying side by side with her on the bed. Like nothing weird just happened. ‘Cause to her, it didn’t. It was just our normal wrestling. “He swore he had the aerodynamics right on those set of wings.”
“And you believed him.” She laughs for a second, but then her smile disappears as she talks to the ceiling. “I’ll never forget how I felt when you landed.”
Something in my chest squeezes so much I can’t find the air to say anything. My heart pounds through my shirt, and I have to wipe my palms free from all the sweat that suddenly accumulates there.
Her head rolls and her eyes meet mine. “I really thought I lost you.”
I’m trying to hide the shock coursing through my body. There was nothing real significant about that day. I jumped off a roof, got the wind knocked out of me for a couple minutes and stitches later at the hospital, but other than that, it really wasn’t a big deal. And Lex never said anything. Just teased me. But now that I think about it, I guess she never did let Nate and I do our “experiments” after that.
I shrug, hoping it’ll erase all the confusing crap going on in my head. Why she’s saying all this to me. “You were probably celebrating on the inside.”
“Don’t be a jerk.” She punches me softly in the shoulder. “Haven’t you noticed I’m a little protective when you get hurt?”
Uh, no.
“That’s why on th e hill today…” She taps my nose and takes a deep breath. “So, sorry if I went a little overboard.”
“You didn’t.” ‘Cause she didn’t. “I just thought you wanted to spend more time with me…” I inch closer to her and waggle my eyebrows. “Alone.”
I smirk, waiting for her to argue. Or sock me one again. Or roll her eyes or stick her tongue out or any of that stuff she does when I “pretend” to hit on her. Instead, she inches closer to me too, and grabs my hand, playing with my fingers.
My chest squeezes my lungs again, something heavy falls into my gut, and things below the belt are shooting upward. My mouth gets really dry, and my whole body feels sparky again.
We touch all the time. We wrestle and hug and hold hands and I kiss her forehead, she punches my shoulder. I tickle her sides, she knees me in the nuts.
This is different.
Or, it feels different.
More.
Her eyes flick up to mine, and I have no idea what the hell I look like right now. Probably not keeping my cool.
“Ry, please don’t ever leave—”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
We both shoot upright in the bed, shoulders bumping into each other. Damn whoever is at the door! Lex seems to have shocked back to herself, and I’m left wondering what she was going to say. Don’t ever leave… what? The country? The toilet seat up? This bed? Me?
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Ugh.
“What?” I say, flinging the door open. Then I curse myself because I didn’t even think about who was there before answering. Thank my lucky stars it wasn’t a chaperone. Mike, a kid in my math class, sticks his hands in
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