There’s no getting rid of us now, Sierra
I smacked my palm against my forehead. “I am so sorry. I should have known, but I didn’t think they were going to dothat.”
“They’re not going to blow up my phone with notifications, right?” When I didn’t confirm, she groaned,putting her head in her hands. “I’m sorry for ever asking who you were talking to.” She muted the chat, but my phone continued to light up with notifications.
“It looks like we’re going to be stuck here for a while.” I sighed as I attempted to look out the window. “This rain doesn’t look like it’s going to let up anytime soon.”
The silence in the cab—apart from the pounding of raindrops—was deafening, a chasm growing between us even though we were two feet apart.
I glanced over at Sierra, my eyes roving over her. “Tell me a truth.”
“What?” Her brows knitted together.
“Tell me something true. Like, when I first saw you on the bus the first day of freshman year, I thought you were really pretty, but your eyes were so sad. All I wanted to do was get you to smile,” I murmured before adding, “Truth.”
“Okay.” She looked down for a second like she was thinking. “I tried to avoid everyone when I first started school, but you were impossible to ignore. No matter how hard I tried, something kept pulling me to you.”
I nodded, my lips twitching in a very subtle smile. “Taking the fall for you hitting that tree was the best decision I made in my life.”
She rolled her eyes. “You didn’t have to do that. Your dad was pissed.”
“Yeah, but it was worth it because it meant you didn’t get in trouble. Clearly, he wasn’t that mad because I’m still here. Didn’t get grounded for life.”
Sierra tapped her nails on the center console. “I don’t actually hate that stupid nickname you and Keenan gave me. If anything, I like it more because it’s our thing. Truth.”
“Keenan makes fun of me because I named my horsePeanut Butter, but it’s special to me because you were there to name her with me.”
“I lied when I said I wasn’t jealous when I saw you and Michaela talking.”
My heart burst in my chest at the confirmation, but I still shot her a cocky smirk, flirting a little. “Oh, I know.” I did my best to keep a blank expression as I said my next piece. “Truth, I’ve been really scared something’s going to happen with all of the weird things going on. I worry someone’s targeting you. I don’t want to be overbearing, but I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you again.” The last part was hardly a breath off my lips.
She pulled her lip between her teeth. “I blame myself for a lot of things that happened back then. Truth.”
“I waited and waited and hoped that you’d come back one day. That maybe it was all a bad dream and I’d have my best friend back… Truth,” I whispered. The first time she left was devastating, but the second time… I was convinced the second time killed me, and for five years, I was a ghost—a shell of a person wandering around, searching for the one person that tied me to this world.
My eyes flicked down to her lips as her tongue darted out to wet them, then back up, emerald green staring into ocean blue.
“Skip.” The name fell off my lips in a whisper. My hand cupped her cheek, my thumb brushing against the delicate scar tissue under her eye.
She leaned into my palm, gaze softening. Her eyes swept up and down my face, like she wanted this as much as I did.
The world around us seemed to pause, the raindrops and cars speeding by reduced to slow-motion frames.
My heart thrummed in my chest, a plea to close thedistance until the breaths between us were merely a whisper. My eyelids fluttered shut as I leaned in, our noses close enough to touch. The warmth of her breath tickled my skin, and my lips parted as I inched closer, my mouth nearly brushing hers.
My chance was gone in an instant, and reality came crashing back down.
Sierra drew in a sharp breath, and my eyes snapped back open as she sighed. “Hayes, I can’t. We can’t.”
I pulled back, blinking. Thinking maybe I misheard her over the howl of the wind outside.
She turned away—the rift that separated us now miles wide—and her attention shifted to the passenger-side window. “The rain’s stopped. W-we should get back on the road.”
A pang hit me in the chest, but I swallowed my pride and nodded. I thought she wanted to kiss me as badly as I wanted to kiss her—close the five-year gap that had formed between us—but perhaps I was wrong…again.
We’d been in this situation once before. I knew back then why she hesitated. I just couldn’t figure out why she still held back now.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
