“This is stupid,” he says.
“This is fun.”
“Not mutually exclusive.” But he’s smiling now. Really smiling—warm and crooked, directed entirely at me.
My heart stumbles.
“Race you to that rock.” I point to a boulder near the far bank.
“Absolutely not.”
“Scared you’ll lose?”
“Scared you’ll break an ankle and I’ll have to set it out here.”
“Excuses.”
His eyes narrow. “Fine. When I win, you admit reckless behavior isn’t fun.”
“WhenIwin, you admit you’re the same dork who climbed trees because I dared him.”
“I was never a dork.”
“You wore taped glasses for a semester.”
“They were broken!”
“You could’ve bought new ones!”
“New glasses were expensive and—” He stops, realizing he’s been baited. “You’re impossible.”
“Ready?” I crouch like a sprinter. “Set?”
“Cara—”
“GO!”
I take off across the ice. Behind me, Lucas curses, then footsteps scrambling to follow. I’m laughing so hard I can barely breathe, arms pinwheeling, cold air burning my lungs.
I hit a rough patch and stumble. He catches up, grabs my arm, and we both go down—sliding until we crash into the snowbank.
For a moment, we just lie there. Me on my back. Lucas half on top of me. Both breathing hard.
Then I start laughing.
I can’t help it. It bubbles up, hysterical and ridiculous. We’re lying in a snowbank and Lucas Price just chased me across a frozen creek like we’re seventeen.
He doesn’t laugh. Not at first. He stares at me with an expression I can’t read.
Then his mouth twitches.
Then he’s laughing too—warm and surprised, shaking his whole body. The careful mask cracks down the middle, and underneath is the boy I remember.
“You’re insane,” he gasps.
“You fell too!”
“Youpulledme down.”
