“No.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
She shrugged. Her dark hair blew off her shoulders, making my breath catch.
“What about you?” she asked. “Any girl back home you’re missing?”
“No.”
“I find that hard to believe.” Her light tone matched mine.
“It’s true. There’s no one for me back home.”
Watching Charley smile, I was dying to kiss her. Hell, I was eighty-six days away from dying anyway, but something held me back. Something in her eyes.
Then she shivered.
“You’re cold.” I fought the urge to wrap my arms around this girl I’d just met less than forty-eight hours ago. “Told you that you were underdressed.” I grinned.
“I didn’t see any jackets in the Shack,” she said. “And the Gap was already closed.”
As she rubbed her arms, I made myself ask, “Do you want to head back to the fire?”
Say no. Say you’ll stay with me. Or better yet, kiss me, and you’ll forget all about being cold.
CHAPTER
20
CHARLEY
DAY 13, NIGHT
Thad was so close I could make out the individual lashes framing his eyes. A small scar perched over his left eye. Shaped like a tiny mountain, it dipped into his eyebrow, and my fingers itched to touch it. Watching his lips curve into a lazy grin, I wanted to kiss him—more than I’d ever wanted to kiss any boy, ever.
But he’d just asked me if I wanted to go back, which meant he probably did. And I was not about to make a fool of myself by throwing myself at a boy looking for an escape.
“Okay,” I said, but I didn’t move. I was too overwhelmed by the moment and, frankly, by Thad. There were no boys like Thad back in Roswell, and I was definitely not in Roswell anymore. I was on Nil, where you watched the days, counted them down, and lived like you were dying.
Which we were.
Maybe I should kiss him after all.
“Ready? Or did you change your mind?” His voice was teasing.
The burning torch cast shadows on his face, highlighting his lips and jaw, and I nearly kissed him right then.
But I didn’t. Because he was the one who’d asked to go back.
“Sorry.” I smiled, swinging my legs over the rock’s edge. “Just letting everything sink in, I guess.”
He nodded. “Yeah. It’s like it’s too screwed up to be real. But it is.” Looking away, he got to his feet.
Night air flooded the space he’d left, leaving me colder than before. As I climbed down, he offered his hand, but let go the instant my feet touched sand. Feeling foolish, I crossed my arms to give my hands somewhere to go. Thad strolled beside me. Each step brought us closer to the crowd, and I found myself wishing I’d said no.No, I don’t want to go back. No, I don’t want our moment alone to end. No, I don’t want to share you with anyone.
And, as it turned out, I had to share Thad with everyone.
For the rest of the night, we were never alone. People came up constantly, sometimes to meet me, more often than not to talk to Thad. About nets, about gliders. About Search team choices and Search strategies. About prawns and crabs, about deadleaf and something called taro root. He had answers for everyone, which I noticed because I rarely left his side, or maybe he rarely left mine. And when he did, every so often he’d look over at me and smile, even as someone else stepped up to fill the space.
