“You’ve made it clear you only want to be my friend.”
“You’re mybestfriend. I just wanted to hang out with you, I wasn’t going to jump your bones.”
“Right, because why would you do that?”
“What is going on?”
“Nothing, Hayes. I’m just setting boundaries.”
“Liv, we’ve talked about this.”
“No, you’ve talked. You put up the wall between us because you think I’m not old enough to make my own choices.”
“That’s not–”
“My friend thinks that I’m very mature for my age and that I’m way too smart to date high school boys. But you still think I’m a kid.”
“I don’t think you’re a kid. And, what fucking friend is telling you that you’re mature for your age?”
“Why? Are they wrong?”
“I mean, no, but it just seems odd…”
“Bye, Hayes.” She closes the window in my face, and I’m left staring at my befuddled expression.
Chapter Twenty-One
Liv
His headlights sweep across my front windshield, and I brace myself to see him again. It should be easier, but it’s not.
The pit in my stomach is still begging for the void that he left to be filled.
“I brought a gas can, I’ll dump it in and then follow you to a gas station,” he says through my window as if nothing is amiss.
I climb out of my car for the first time because I haven’t felt safe enough to until now. “Thank you for coming to help me.”
“Anytime,” he responds, like he has nowhere better to be than right here. Saving me even when I’ve been pretty terrible to him lately.
He focuses on my car until the cap is screwed back on the empty gas can, and my gas tank lid is closed, but when his eyes finally meet mine, a breath escapes me.
He’s always been beautiful to me. When we were young, I was always too afraid to say it. He took my breath away. He still does, but now there is pain I see in his eyes every timehe looks at me.
He’s been utterly broken.
Just like me.
I’m reaching for him before I have a chance to stop myself, wrapping my arms around his neck like I did so many times a lifetime ago. “Thank you for coming,” I utter more wholeheartedly as I hug him.
He’s only stunned for a moment, but I hear the empty gas can thud as it hits the ground, and both of his arms coil around my waist, pulling me in tighter like he always used to.
Holding me like only he could.
A hug that entangles two people, plastering their souls together into one place and time. Hurricane-force winds couldn’t tear us apart.
I missed this.
I’ve missed him and the closeness we shared. Two atoms fused into one.
