“What are you doing?”
“Nothing.”
“I don’t think I like that.”
Landon blanched. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” I kissed his shoulder.
He rested his hand on my thigh (my right one, thankfully) and rubbed it back and forth. He leaned in for another kiss, and he did that tongue-sucking thing again.
My skin tingled all over.
This time it was Landon who broke the kiss.
I was pretty sure he was excited too.
“My dad won’t be home until late,” he said. “What should we do?”
“You could play for me. You never let me hear you play bassoon.”
Landon stared at me.
“Or we could just stay like this. Cuddle for a while.”
Landon kissed me and rested his head against my chest again. “I like cuddling with you.”
I took his hand off my thigh and brought it up to my lips. I kissed his knuckles, one after another.
Landon shifted a bit, his hair tickling my chin, as I wrapped my arms around him and laid us across his couch.
I took a long, deep breath.
And then Landon snorted and muttered “joner” under his breath, and we both started cracking up.
THE SECOND STEEPINGS
That night, after Dad and I watched “Indiscretion,” a kind of trippy episode ofDeep Space Nine,I tried Sohrab. Again. But the little green CALL icon kept flashing, and thedoot-deet-doot, deet-doot-deetmusic echoed in my bedroom. And Sohrab didn’t answer.
I didn’t know what to do.
Sohrab was the one who always helped me figure out what to do.
I hung up and tried again. And a third time. Let it ring until it timed out.
Nothing.
I chewed on my lip for a little while, and then tried Mamou instead.
I hated how selfish I was, calling my grandmother because I couldn’t get ahold of my best friend.
How was I supposed to talk to Mamou now that Babou was gone?
She picked up almost instantly. There was a second of weird, ringing feedback, and the screen flashed black and then white as we connected.
“Hi, Darioush-jan.”
“Hi, Mamou.” I almost cried, I loved my grandmother’s voice so much. “How are you?”
