“Personally, I prefer lifting,” I say, glancing down at my arms. I even flex a little. The workout Dean and I just put ourselves through is most likely going to leave us aching later. “Alright,” I say, bringing myself to a halt and holding a hand up to Eden. “I give up. I’m not a runner. You win.” My breathing is ragged and heavy, so I press my hand to the wall of a building for support while it calms down.
Eden stops too and turns to face me as she places her hands on her hips. She is grinning, basking in the joy of my surrender. “You’re damn right I won.”
“That sounds like something I would say.” I laugh and lift my gaze to meet hers, and her hazel eyes are already boring into mine, glistening as the sunlight hits them. Slowly, she takes her lower lip between her teeth, and whether or not she’s aware that she’s doing it, she is driving me crazy. “We’re hanging out tonight,” I tell her. It’s not a question. Ineedto spend more time with this girl, not just because I am dying to kiss her again, but because I actually like being around someone who I don’t feel so pressured to put on a performance around, someone who challenges me, and someone who finds me as interesting as I find her. “Let me take you out. Have you been to the pier yet? Pacific Park?”
She tilts her head down a little as her cheeks flush with color, and it’s definitely not from the running. “No,” she says quietly.
“Then we’ll go to the pier,” I say with a smile that I can’t quite fight. Did I just ask her on a date? Also, how has shenotbeen to the pier yet?
“Okay. We’ll go to the pier,” she agrees. Her eyes light with enthusiasm and her mouth forms a perfect, intoxicating smirk, but I only witness it for a fraction of a second before she turns around and bursts back into a jog. She disappears in front of me, shrinking into the distance until she is gone entirely, leaving me wanting more.
My smile never falters, and I don’t even mind the walk home.
41
Five Years Earlier
We love staying at our grandparents’ house. Grampa always lets us stay up late to watch TV, even on school nights, and Grandma cooks amazing food and enough to feed an army. We’re staying here for the next three nights, my brothers and me, and we are whizzing through the front door with our luggage. They are the only grandparents we have. We’ve never met Mom’s parents.
“Slow down! Slow down!” Grandma Maria tells us as she emerges from the kitchen to greet us in the hall. We almost crash straight into her, but I’m the first to wrap my arms around her. It feels like we haven’t visited in months, even though they only live ten minutes away, and Grandma gives thebesthugs.
“I can hear you rascals from the backyard!” Grampa says. He walks into the hall, sliding a pair of his glasses onto his nose. He’s always been as blind as a bat, and that’s why he tells us never to stare at computer screens for too long unless we want to end up like him. Jamie and Chase fight to hug him. Dad and Mom walk in through the front door with an air of excitement surrounding them. The entire morning, the pair of them have been acting like kids, rushing around the house andthrowing last-minute items into their suitcases. Mom was even drinking champagne at 8:00 a.m., so I’m pretty sure the celebrations this weekend are going to be big.
“Your flight. What time?” Grandma asks them. She is from Mexico, and although she’s lived here for over thirty years now, her accent is still thick and her English is still a little broken sometimes. Her skin is tan, her hair is thick and dark, and she has passed those genes down to Dad and me. She still has her arm around my shoulders, soothingly rubbing my arm.
“Noon, so we better get going!” Dad says. He lets go of Mom’s hand and walks down the hall, wrapping his arm around Grandma and kissing her cheek. “Any problems, call us.”
“Pete,” Mom says, fixing Grampa with a stern look, “please don’t take them out in the car. You ran straight through a stop sign last time!”
“Oh, Ella,” Grampa says, rolling his eyes, “youknowI will.” He looks over at me and winks. Grampa still owns the red Corvette he had when he was a teenager, and he likes to drive it way too fast. It’s old, but it’s still cool. We love it when he takes us with him, when we fly down the Pacific Coast Highway with all of the windows rolled down.
“Tyler gets his cast off on Monday morning, so please remember to take him to the appointment,” Dad tells his parents, glancing between the two of them, mostly looking at Grandma. She’s more likely to be the one to take me, and I glance down at my cast, covered in drawings and names and dirt. It’s been three weeks, and I can’t wait to finally have it removed for the last time. “And make sure Tyler gets his work done,” Dad adds. I quickly glance back up at him to find that he is already staring at me, his eyes narrowed. He doesn’t like it when he’s not able to keep an eye on me. It’s like he doesn’t trust me to study unless he’s here, so I give him a silent nod of agreement.
“Oh, c’mon, Peter, it’s the weekend!” Grampa says with a chuckle. Dad is named after him, though Grampa goes by Pete now. He runs his hand through his graying dark hair and steps closer to Dad, squeezing his shoulder. “Lighten up. If you guys are getting to Vegas, then there’s no way the kids arestudying. That’s unfair. Am I right?” He grins at Mom, and she just shakes her head at him, smiling.
Dad doesn’t laugh though. He cranes his neck to look at Grampa, who is still standing by his side, still resting his hand on his shoulder. “Dad,” he says firmly, his features hardening. His voice is almost threatening as he quietly demands, “Make sure he studies.”
“Peter,” Mom says, clearing her throat. When Dad looks over at her, she nods at the clock on the wall. “We should make a move. Now,” she says, turning her attention to my brothers and me, “you guys need to behave, okay? Come here!” She crouches down and extends her arms out to us, and we all hug her tight, and she kisses each of us, and she asks us to be good, and we promise her that we will be.
“Andyouguys behave too!” Grampa says, pointing a finger at Mom and Dad, wiggling his eyebrows at them.
“Sí,” Grandma agrees, stepping forward. She places her hands on Mom’s shoulders, kisses both her cheeks, then frowns. She glances at Dad, then back at Mom. “Alcohol…not too much. No casinos. So stupid.”
“Sí, sí. Te amo, Madre,” Dad says with the roll of his eyes, and I get the feeling he and Mom aren’t going to listen to her advice. “Bye, Dad.”
We watch them from the porch as they climb back into Dad’s Mercedes and drive off, waving goodbye to us until they are out of sight down the street.
“So…” Grampa says, turning to face us. He is smirking. “Who wants to go for a drive?”
42
Present Day
I’m so hungry after running around all afternoon that I don’t even care that we are all sitting in the kitchen eating dinner together for once. Mom, my brothers, Dave…even Eden. We are all here, all sitting around the table, all facing each other as I shovel lasagna down my throat. The best part about being vegetarian is that Mom always makes separate dishes for me, and therefore, I get more. I’ll stick to the four cheeses, and they can all fight over the meat dish.
“So, Eden,” I hear Dave say, and I curiously glance up from my plate to listen in. I look across the table at Eden, and she must have already been staring at me because she instantly drops her gaze down to her food and grabs her silverware, clattering it against her plate. “You’re being so quiet tonight. What are you thinking about?” Dave asks teasingly, and for once, he’s actually being okay. For the first time, I almost see him smile at her.
“I was—um—I was just—I—uhhh,” Eden babbles, and I suspiciously raise an eyebrow at her. What is up with her? She scoops up a tiny forkful of food and bites into it, but she’s hardly eaten anything so far. She never really does.
