But right as I do…
SLAM.
The sound of the front door closing.
Faith lifts her head, blinking. “Hey sorry, what did you just say?”
I force a small smile, heart thudding like a jackhammer.
Like I didn’t just put my whole soul on the line and have the moment ruined.
“Oh… nothing. Looks like the pizza’s here.”
She laughs and rolls off the bed, reaching for her clothes.
But I stay where I am, staring at the ceiling, wondering if I just blew the one moment I should’ve spoken louder.
“You okay?” She says as she pulls her jeans on.
“That was just…that was really good.”
“You’re telling me.”
I shake my head and finally jump out of bed. I’m not sure when Faith freaking Easton became this girl who’s okay with casual. But here we are.
I am so screwed.
I throw my board shorts back on, and head downstairs to join them, while Faith freshens up for a few minutes upstairs.
“Well hello there,” my mom smiles at me, a little too much.
“Well hello there to you,” I echo, pretending I don’t notice something is going on with her tone, as I open the slice of pizza she got for me.
I look between Daphne and my mom. “Okay. What’s going on here?”
“I told her,” Daphne says.
“Told her…?” I ask.
“She told me about you and Faith,” my mom says. “So are you going to tell me what’s going on yourself? Or...?”
I wonder what I could say that would make any sense.
Falling in love so hard I can’t stand it.
Picturing my family with this girl.
The sex is out of this world.
None of which are things I can say to my mom.
So instead, I roll with a tongue-in-cheek, “She said it’s just a casual summer fling. So I guess that’s what it is.”
The words taste like ash as I say them.
Then I hear a step behind me—the shuffle of someone trying not to interrupt—and I turn.
Faith’s standing there.
