“If you weren’t such a dumbass?” She laughed, leaning forward until her forehead rested on mine.
“I’m sorrywho’sthe dumbass?” I playfully shoved her back.
Her hair flew behind her like a cape. Brenna motioned to herself with both hands—a taunt. “Can’t wait to hear what’s worse than waitingyearsto kiss.”
On second thought… “You thought you weren’t the kind of girl I would date.”
“No,” she said, raising a finger. “I said I wasn’t the kind of girl you wereexpectedto date. Do you see the looks I get when we walk down the hall together?”
I scoffed. “We’ve always walked down the hall together, Quinn.”
“Not hand-in-hand.”
“There’s nothing anyone could say that will change how I feel about you.”
Brenna’s lips quirked into a half smile. She was still shy when I expressed my feelings. I stared into those eyes that had gone soft at my admission, wanting her to see how much I meant my words.
“You’ll always have me, Nathan.” She gripped my hand tighter. “No matter what happens.”
The underlying meaning of those words didn’t go unnoticed—something badcouldhappen—but I didn’t want to focus on it.Not while I had my best friend here, the person I loved more than anyone in the world.
“Do you need to get back home?”
She shook her head. “My mom isn’t there.” She paused a moment, weighing her next words. “Do you… would you want to come over?” She chewed the side of her lip. We hadn’t talked about our different experience levels. I wanted to go back to her room and pick up where we’d left off moments ago, but I didn’t want to rush her. We had all the time in the world.
“Obviously, yes.” I flung an arm around her shoulder, tugging her to my side. “But I had something else in mind for tonight, if you’re up for it.”
She peeked up at me. “Is it what I think it is?”
I grinned at her. “What do you think?”
“But… you don’t even like that tradition.”
We momentarily moved away from each other to leave the diamond.
“I never said that.”
“You’re always like,Come on, Quinn, let’s go home and watch the game,” she said, her voice a poor imitation of mine.
I huffed out a laugh. “I thought maybe now we’re dating, you’d lay off me.”
“Keep dreaming,” she said in a sing-song tone. “Seriously, we don’t have to go. I’m supposed to be making you feel better.”
“You already have. And maybe I want to see if I like this tradition more now…”
“Now that we can kiss?”
Brenna and I walked two blocks to the only convenience store in town. We were frequent fliers, especially during the hot southern summer. She opted for her usual strawberry slushy, and I stuck to peach lemonade. We sucked down our drinks on the short walk to Brenna’s favorite spot in town, a small pedestrian bridge over a creek. For the rest of the night, we satside by side, legs swinging off the bridge, talking about nothing and everything.
Here, with only the two of us, I could pretend nothing else existed.
8
BRENNA
Now
Nathan’s eyes were gluedto the piece of paper in front of him, the last words from his father.
