“It was my question. You have to answer,” I say finally, making sure he doesn’t get out of this one easily.
He shifts around a little in the grass and lets out a big sigh. “I guess if I had to pick one, it’d be to be a published author. You know I’ve always enjoyed reading, but growing up, I thought it would be so cool to be the person who wrote a story thattouched someone else’s life the way all the stories I’ve read have touched me. I was told pretty quickly that most authors don’t make it, and even if you publish a book, you probably won’t make any money, so I don’t know that I’ll ever end up doing that.”
“For what it’s worth, you’d be one hell of a writer, Andrew. I hope someday, even if it’s when you’re eighty, you’re able to write a story and share it with the world. And when you do,” I add, “I better be one of the first people to read it.”
His pure smile melts me, and I swear he’s looking at me like I put the stars in the sky.
We continue asking each other questions back and forth for a long time, talking about the past, the future, and completely random topics. The sky gradually begins to lighten, and the stars begin to fade before I doze off.
I wake to the sound of my dad’s truck starting up.That thing is unreasonably loud!
As I open my eyes, I find my face buried in Andrew’s chest. One of his arms is draped over me, and we are still lying on the blanket on the lawn. He continues to breathe heavily, apparently unfazed by the loud noise moments earlier.
I’m afraid to move and wake him. He looks so peaceful. I allow myself to watch him sleep for just a moment before I begin feeling around with the hand that’s not currently pressed into Andrew’s side, trying to find my phone and check the time.
I feel the smooth silicone of my phone case and grab it, bringing it around so that I can peek at the time without disrupting Andrew. It’s almost eight. We should get up before someone sees us like this.
I shake him awake, muttering his name. Ittakes several shakes and raising the volume of my voice several times to get him awake.
He stirs finally and opens his eyes. When he meets my gaze, a smile crosses his sleepy face, and millions of butterflies begin swirling in my stomach with the sweet look he gives me.
He pulls me in tighter, wrapping me up in both his arms, and I don’t say anything. I’m too stunned to speak.
“We should do this more often. Despite sleeping on just a blanket in the grass, I slept great,” he mutters cheerfully in my ear, sending chills down my spine.
As he pulls back, I watch him melt before my very eyes. There’s no misreading the look he’s giving me. It’s filled with adoration. His eyes slowly drift from mine down to my lips.
I become aware of the way my body is completely flush against his. My chest is pressed against his, and his hand is resting on my lower back. If it moved one inch south, we could be in trouble.
He begins to lean in, closing the already small distance between our lips, and I feel my whole body light on fire.
Then his phone begins ringing.
Andrew pulls back, picks it up, and glances at the screen before muttering, “Shit!” I watch his body stiffen and then he shoots up from the blanket with alarm. “Brendan was supposed to pick me up ten minutes ago to go to the gym!”
Despite his sudden hurry, he still helps pull me to my feet and grabs the blanket, crumpling it into a ball in his arms.
I turn to head back toward my house and let him go get ready, but he grabs my arm and pulls me toward him. He wraps me in for a hug and presses his lips to my forehead. “Last night was amazing.” He lets me go and starts to head back to the house. “To be continued,” he says with a sexy smirk that makes me tingle.
This can’t be real! I have to be dreaming. There’s no way Andrewis saying this right now, looking at me the way he’s looking at me. Did we almost kiss?
My mind is swirling, and my heart is soaring. As I calm down and head back toward the house, I think to myself,I have to tell Rebecca!
CHAPTER 28
Summer 18
Rebecca flips a pancake high into the air, and it retreats to the pan crippled and folded.
I choke out a laugh. “I don’t understand why you continue to try flipping them like that. I’m sorry, Becs, but you haven’t been close once, and you just keep wasting good pancakes.”
She feigns offense, pressing her palm to her chest. “I’ll have you know that pancake would’ve landed perfectly if it had just made another half-turn. Besides, they’re not going to waste.” She picks a piece off the top of the pancake, still sitting in the pan. “I’ll eat them. I care about what’s on the inside, unlike some people.”
She gives me the side-eye, and I just laugh, giving her a little hip check as I pick off an even bigger piece of the pancake to prove a point. To my dismay, I got part of the middle that is still gooey. I make a face as the sticky goo touches my tongue.
Rebecca points to my sour face. “See! I told you.”
I roll my eyes, the edges of my mouth turning up. “Oh, whatever. When can we eat?” I eyeball the stack of blueberry pancakes that must be twenty high by now. Even with myhabitually ravenous appetite and Andrew’s post-lifting appetite when he gets home in an hour, there’s no way we will finish all of those.
