“Pizzazz? We’re giving points for pizzazz?” David asks like they aren’t two late-twenties adults arguing over a cannonball competition they just made up on the spot.
“We doing this or what?” Derick asks of the game.
As Preeti mounts David’s shoulders, Derick swims up underneath me and taps my legs apart. His shoulders lock below my thighs, and right away I’m weightless, straddling his skull.
Derick and David find equal footing close enough to the center of the pool that if either of us falls, we won’t crack our heads open. My jittery heart hiccups each time Derick readjusts his grip on my shins.
“Three...two...one!” Derick cries.
Preeti and I engage in hand-to-hand combat. I push and shove, while she pulls and prods. She’s a worthy sparring partner, and my meager upper body strength is severely tested. Derick’s encouraging cheers spur me on.
One bad move happens though, a sneaky twist of the wrist, and I miss Preeti’s final blow for dominance. The thrust sends both me and Derick falling back into the deep end. I slide from my perch, and the world goes lavender.
I open my eyes underwater, even though it’s terrible for my contacts. Derick is staring back at me with wonderment. Time stops here in our own personal fishbowl. I could swim in circles by his side forever.
As he comes up for air, Derick’s eyes find mine again. It’s as if they’re trying to send me a message, but I don’t have the proper tools to decode it just yet. I need more time to study him. I hope he’ll give me that.Time.
Preeti sashaying out of the pool pulls me from the moment. David is waiting with a victory towel to wrap around her shivering body. “No hot tub?” Derick calls after them.
“No way, the real adults have work in the morning.” Preeti sticks her tongue out at us. “Don’t get into too much trouble.”
“Yeah, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” David calls with a devilish glint of his teeth.
Preeti smacks him. “Don’t encourage him.”
Derick flushes as the two of them cross back into the kitchen, barefoot and damp.
“Should we hot tub it out?” he asks me.
The temperature is already set at 101 degrees Fahrenheit, and the jets are on full blast, making the water frothy, white, and bubbly. The steam rises into the air and swirls around my face. It’s almost mystical.
Derick moves to the switch near the door, dims all the lights like his mom said to.
When I get into the water, allowing my muscles to unclench, I look up. It’s as if the gods are practicing pointillism with white paint and the bruised Pennsylvania sky is their canvas. New sparkling specks appear each time I turn my head, a hypnotic optical illusion.
I sense Derick beside me before I see him. I’m too mesmerized, too grateful, too wrapped up in this moment to even think to overthink. The fumbling conversation from earlier gets struck from the record, and I embolden myself to rewrite it in real time. “If you meant it, really meant it, like I think you did, it’s okay to call me your boyfriend. I mean, I want tobeyour boyfriend. If that’s what you want too.”
His audible exhale registers like a long-held sigh of ecstasy. “That’s exactly what I want, Wren.” His careful earnestness makes my heart sing.
“Can I kiss you?” I ask.
Hunger is laced into his whispery growl. “Absolutely you can.”
With his permission, I pull myself up to his level, grabbing the sturdy, smooth mounds of his shoulders. And just like that, I kiss his lips so tenderly that I might cry. Not from sadness. Not from happiness. From…I don’t even know what. And I don’t really care.
I lean back to take in his astonished face, memorize the passion in his eyes and the slight wrinkle of his forehead. Every nerve ending in my body is at full attention, making sure not to miss a single moment of this.
With only the stars as my witness, I kiss him again, deeper, and to my surprise, it doesn’t feel like scratching an act off a list or completing a quest: it feels like coming home.
Chapter 22
“Who are you? Whattaya want? How’d you get in here?” Alice jumps out of her chair, and her hands fly up in defense. “Don’t make me sic my dogs on you! They’re ruthless! Vicious! They’ll tear you to shreds!”
I knocked a bunch of times on Alice’s front door when I arrived, but she couldn’t hear me over the booming TV. We’re friends now, or at least I’d like to think so, and when I jiggled the knob and noticed it was unlocked, I let myself in.
“Alice! Alice! It’s me. It’s Wren,” I say, raising my hands to let her know I come in peace.
She squints with apprehension. “What’s wrong with your face?”
