“I’m pretty good at making forts, but why don’t you go look for Bailey again?” I suggest, wondering where he could’ve wandered off to.
“I didn’t know we were playing hide and seek, but there’s a lot of places to hide here,” Javi says on his way out of the kitchen, making me snort as my phone goes off with an alert that Hurricane Percy made landfall.
My parents have been checking in every hour to make sure I’m okay, and I’ve told them not to worry, even if I know there’s nothing I can say to make them feel better about notbeing here. I also made sure to let Thalia know that I did my best to make sure everything at the gallery would be okay.
It sucks knowing we’re stuck in a waiting game to see what the storm actually does, but now we’re in a countdown until Percy reaches Charlotte.
I’ve been waiting for Mirabelle to spring her fake labor moment on us, but I’m hoping she abandoned the idea after Bailey and I spent hours in the car together yesterday.
Once I recovered from my embarrassment about being momentarily jealous of Luna, the drive went without a hitch. It gave me a chance to enjoy being around Bailey without feeling like I was doing something I wasn’t supposed to.
Being with him and just getting to talk without the added pressure of the past hanging over our heads helped give me some clarity about all the uncertainty I’ve been feeling about the future. I think the reason being at Duke never felt right is because I always thought Bailey would be there with me.
When B left, he took away one of the only things I knew with abundant certainty, and that was knowing I never had to experience life without him. Except I did.
I don’t want to rely on him for a crutch, but when someone is unequivocally in your corner for your entire life, and then they disappear? It fucked with me and made me question everything.
I still might not know what I want to do with my life, but I think I’m okay with it as long as I have my best friend by my side.
“Oh my god, I love you. I’m so hungry I think I could eat three of these,” Mirabelle says, walking in. I look over her shoulder, waiting for Bailey to pop up behind her, but he doesn’t.
I put two sandwiches on the plate I offer her, still watching the doorway. “Do you guys have a weather radio?” I ask, and Mira makes a face.
“Yes, but I think it might still be in a box in the garage, sorry,” Mirabelle says, and that sounds like the worst place for it to be in the event of an actual weather emergency, but what do I know?
“I guess I’ll see if I can find it,” I say, taking a couple bites of my sandwich before walking out to the garage.
I’m actually a little surprised they still haven’t unpacked their weather radio, but I guess it’s been a relatively calm storm season until now.
Henry must’ve been looking for something in the boxes recently because the ladder is leaning beside the wall of shelves the boxes are stacked on.
The door opens just after I climb up a couple of rungs, and I look over my shoulder to see Bailey standing there, watching me.Javi must’ve found him.His eyes drag up over me, and my stomach flips when his mouth quirks into a smile.
“Are you going to help me, or just stand there and stare at me?” I ask, resting my hands on my hips, which probably isn’t a great idea since I’m on a ladder.
“I’ll help,” he says, and I climb one step higher as Bailey moves closer to hold onto the ladder. “So what exactly are we climbing the ladder for?”
“Well, I guess Mirabelle and Henry never unpacked their weather radio, and I think this is pretty standard for a weather prep kit,” I say, rolling my eyes.
Bailey’s laugh makes me smile as I open a box of what appears to be just gardening gloves. “I think we’re going to be just fine, but it’s probably a safe bet to assume we’ll lose power,” he says while I open the next box, only to find another full box of gloves.
“God, how many pairs of gloves do they need?” I laugh as I shut the box to reach for the next one, but I have to lean further than I thought, causing the ladder to wobble.
“Maybe we can focus on not falling off the ladder?” Bailey asks, his hand resting on the back of my thigh to steady me.
“Doing my best,” I reply, when really, the only thing I can think about is how Bailey’s touching me. “They have two full boxes of gardening gloves?”
“Do they even do their own landscaping?”
No, they don’t—unless you count the handful of wildflower seeds Mirabelle scattered last year by the dock.
“Got it!” I say, sighing in relief when I pull the battery-operated weather radio out of the third box, setting it on the shelf below so I don’t accidentally drop it. My brain feels like it’s only functioning at half capacity with his hand on me.
“What are the odds she has batteries?” Bailey jokes as I climb down, but my foot slips, missing a rung. A sharp yelp slips from me, but he reacts quickly, catching me by pulling me against him. It takes a few seconds for my brain to realize that I’m not going to hit the ground, and that Bailey’s face is pressed into my chest.
“Shit,” I swear, and he loosens his grip for me to slide down his front. My heart is racing in my chest when Bailey’s face is right in front of mine, looking as dazed as I feel. His hardness presses against my thigh through his shorts, and Bailey’s making no movement to let me go after setting my toes back on the ground.
I don’t want him to.
