Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 80199 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 401(@200wpm)___ 321(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80199 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 401(@200wpm)___ 321(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
My stomach went crazy as I read his one-word text. Hey.
Hey, I replied with shaky fingers.
I hope we’re cool after the other night.
Why wouldn’t we be?
I wanted to make sure you knew I’d be more open if I could.
It’s okay. Nobody is on the same calendar. Take all the time you need to figure yourself out.
Would you still want to hang out sometime?
As friends? My fingers lingered a bit too long as I typed the rest of it: Anything else is not a good idea. God, that’d been hard to write.
Yeah, I know. I just…feel safe with you.
My heart rose to my throat.
I glanced across the yard to find him on the picnic table, surrounded by his teammates but looking at his phone. I wondered how he had me listed in his cell. I could only imagine.
He looked up briefly, met my eyes, and smiled. And then Spencer unknowingly blocked my view by horseplaying with Bones, which was just as well.
“What are you smiling about?” Emil asked as he came to stand beside me.
“Oh, just a text from a friend.” I shifted my cell to my pocket.
“Pete?” he asked, likely because I’d mentioned him a couple of times.
“Uh, yeah.”
“Next time you come up on the weekend, invite him along.”
I smiled. “Maybe I will.”
“Hope you’re feeling better?” he asked with concern in his gaze. He probably felt guilty because of the edible, which was the excuse I’d used when I texted him the other night.
“Absolutely.” I squared my shoulders. “Thanks.”
16
HENRY
I hadn’t taken into account what seeing Lark Monday morning would do to me. During our review period, I couldn’t stop looking at his lips and eyes, and he shifted uncomfortably as if he knew I was having trouble—or possibly he was having the same reaction.
I had never felt that way kissing anyone before. And I’d tried to feel something, believe me. But he’d made it clear that being just friends was for the best—and he was right. Still, that didn’t mean that shutting down all the other things going on in my head and body wasn’t hard. It was as if he had awakened something visceral in me, something smoldering right below the surface, and it would be difficult to stuff it back inside that dark and lonely place.
At lunch with a couple of the guys, I barely paid attention to the conversation at the table, lost in my head as I tried not to make eye contact with Lark across the room.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Spencer asked me in a lower register as the table erupted in laughter over something Bones said.
I shrugged. “Just tired from the weekend.”
Spencer chuckled. “You sound like you’re eighty. And I don’t buy it. You’ve been acting strange since Saturday night.”
I explained, yet again, that I’d gotten a stomachache and had to take care of it back at the dorm. That could’ve meant anything from taking antacid to taking a shit. He seemed to get it at the time, so why bring it up again? Thankfully, A-Train saved the day by spilling his soda all over the table, creating chaos, and I was able to slip away easily to my next class.
I considered texting Lark to ask if he was having the same trouble concentrating since our kiss, but that would just make me sound like some lovesick kid. Fuck, was this what a real crush felt like? Lark probably had many and was able to act on them because his family was supportive of his decisions. He might’ve thought we came from starkly different lifestyles and that I was privileged, but I’d trade him in a heartbeat just for that.
The next day as I headed to football practice, I tried hard to avoid walking through the Performing Arts building to watch his class, but my feet took me there anyway. As I walked closer to the door, Lark burst out of the room at a jog but faltered upon seeing me.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, then continued down the hallway. “I forgot something in my locker.”
Without answering, I followed him through the door. Not that I had any business being there. “Wow, your locker room looks shiny new. More so than ours.”
“Wasn’t this building remodeled recently?” He spun the lock on his locker.
“Yeah, I think so,” I replied, trying to remember the specifics from a dinner conversation years ago where Dad rehashed the funding of new buildings.
Lark pulled out a large water bottle, closed his locker, then stared at me. “What are you really doing here?”
“I, uh, was on my way to the field and just thought I would…” I dipped my head. “You caught me, okay?”
He nibbled his bottom lip as my heart thumped hard. When I reached out to touch his wrist, his eyes flashed to mine.
“Lark…I know we’re only supposed to be focusing on our friendship, but I can’t stop thinking about it.”