“Has to be the river.”
“All right, let’s go.”
I follow along behind them, deep in thought. Things were good the other night. I’m not sure what’s happened.
“Eli?” Sofia asks softly.
I look up; they’re all looking at me.
“Sorry, what?”
“The question was, what are you most afraid of?”
The question? I look down at the paper in her hand. Oh, the game. Right.
“Afraid of? Well, I guess that would be becoming irrelevant.”
She waits until I’ve caught up and falls into step beside me. “How do you mean?”
“My parents expected big things from me, huge things. They told me I was special and going to be someone amazing. Right up until I didn’t please them, and then I became someone who was wrong and disgusting. Now that I’m free, I live in this town, and I just…exist, but what makes me afraid is that, one day, I will wake up and people won’t remember my name or what I did. I won’t be important to anyone. No one will think I’m special or that I made a difference.”
Danger stretches up and licks my chin.
“I love you, too, little buddy.”
“Eli, you would never be irrelevant.”
I shrug my shoulders. “It doesn’t matter if I am, really; what will be will be.”
“No, stop.” She grabs my arm. “Even if we never met again, you would be important to me forever.”
“You don’t have to be nice-”
“You were my first kiss.”
“I was…what?” I gape at her.
“You were my first kiss. That night, it changed everything for me. I thought about you for a year. You didn’t come back, though.”
“My parents sent me to boarding school,” I mutter, but my head is reeling. I was her first kiss.
She leans into me. “So, no matter what happens and who you end up with, remember that you are important to me.”
I look up to see Mack smiling at me. He winks.
“All right, next question,” Devon says.
“The next question is, ummm, oh. What is your biggest pet peeve?” Sofia asks.
“Dirty nails,” I say straight away.
Sofia laughs. “You and Dad must be like two peas in a pod. Mine is,” she pauses, frowning a little, “being cruel for no reason.”
“Really?” I ask, wondering why she looks haunted.
“Yes, I hate it. I don’t see the point. People should just be kind to each other; there’s no reason to be foul.”
“Drinking to excess all the time,” Devon says, and I know he’s thinking about his dad and oldest brother.
