Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 107944 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 540(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107944 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 540(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)
“Do what?”
“Break your heart.”
“I promise I won’t break yours either,” I swore.
He smiled. “I know, Jerry.”
“How do you even like to be loved, though?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I was hoping you could show me.”
She smiled and took my hands into hers. We sat between the houses with the stars perched above us in the sky. My heart pounded wildly against my chest as I stared at our embraced hands.
“This is nice?” I questioned in a whisper.
“This is nice,” she replied.
I pulled her hands up to my mouth and kissed her palms. “This is nice?”
“This is nice,” she agreed.
I bit my bottom lip and inched my body closer to hers. My mouth grazed against hers. “This is nice?” I asked.
“This is nice.” I went to lift her onto my lap, and she paused. “Wait, no. I’m too big for that,” she said. I saw it, too, the quickness of her insecurities hitting her stare.
I ignored her as I settled her onto my lap, and she wrapped her arms around my neck. She hovered over me, not placing all her weight against mine.
“Hailee?”
“Yes.”
“Sit.”
“But—”
“Butt.” I moved my hands to her hips and yanked her down a little. The shyness hit her cheeks, but she relaxed against me. It felt like the missing piece of my favorite puzzle sliding into its rightful place.
I placed my forehead against hers as I wrapped my arms around her waist. “This is mine?” I asked so quietly as our mouths rested against one another.
She nodded. “This is yours.”
I kissed her so slowly, and every inch of me felt it. Her eyes began to water as we crossed the barrier into a new territory with one another. The invisible lines between friends and lovers began to somehow tangle. We didn’t have to lose one for the other. We could create our own story where we loved one another both within our friendship and within this newfound relationship. Maybe that’s why it would work for us. Maybe the best love was the kind built with the strongest friendship.
One kiss sealed the deal.
She was mine, and I was hers, and it felt so good that I had to kiss her again.
Have your first kiss
Both get into a relationship
Felt good to cross those off our list. I couldn’t think of a person I’d rather share that task with, either.
She laid her head against my shoulder. “I think I’m going to like this.”
“Like what?”
“Being loved by you.”
16
Aiden
* * *
The morning after Hailee and I shared our first kiss, we met at the bus stop like we always did.
“Hi,” I said.
“Hi,” she replied.
Her cheeks were sitting high, and I could tell she was a bit nervous.
“Handshake?” I asked, hoping that would make her feel a bit more normal because we were still us.
She put her hand in front of her, palm facing me, and she began the chant. “Pancake, pancake, up real high.”
Without hesitation, I joined in patting my hand against hers. “If you toss it, it will fly.”
She smacked the back of her hand against mine three times. “If you drop it, it will go.”
We both spun once, then faced one another, patted hands, and did a weird body roll as we said, “Down the drains where the creepy clown flows.”
She laughed until I took her hand into mine to hold.
She hesitated. “Wait.”
“What?”
“You’re going to hold my hand? In front of people? Like at school?” she timidly asked.
I smirked. My best friend was nervous. No, wait, correction: my girlfriend was nervous. Wait, no. That still wasn’t right. Hailee was my best girlfriend. Yes, that was what she was now—my best girlfriend. The ultimate position in my life.
“I’ve been waiting seventeen years to hold your hand,” I said matter-of-factly. “So yes, I’m going to hold your hand in front of the whole world if that’s okay with you.”
“Oh.” She grumbled a little, doing that overthinking thing she did where her nose crinkled up. She then took my hand into hers, her perfect chipmunk cheeks rose and blushed over, and she replied, “Okay then.”
Okay then.
That was what she said when she couldn’t over analyze a situation. When her brilliant mind couldn’t come up with a scenario for things not to work out. Whenever I received an okay then from Hailee, it felt like the biggest victory.
I knew it was odd, but I loved her cheeks so much when they rose with her smiles.
She had three freckles that sat on her right cheek and seven that sat on her left, and each time she smiled, I somehow counted every single one. I wanted to kiss those cheeks day in, day out.
For now, though, it felt good to simply hold her hand.
So many good things were going on for me lately that I wasn’t shocked when Jake reached out to me.
Jake was one of the biggest disappointments in my life. You know how some people were bursts of sunshine on cloudy days? Jake was the complete opposite. He walked into the sunny days, and somehow, the sky always darkened.