“I saidyes. You’re just blurry.”
“What if I scoot closer?”
He did. His knees pressed into hers. His face got a little clearer. “Is that better?”
“I mean, I can see you more clearly,” she said. “I don’t know if it’sbetter.”
“Very funny,” he said. “Very mean, but very funny.”
He was sitting so close. She’d never been this close to a boy. She’d only been this close to her parents, and her younger cousins, and Chloe when she was doing Julia’s makeup.
“Did you want me to help you find your friend?” he asked.
“I’ll wait until the movie’s over,” she said.
Wyatt laughed. “The movie that you’re not facing and can’t see or hear.”
Julia sat up, away from him, unsure. She could see his face, but she couldn’t read it. “Didyouwant to go findyourfriends?”
“No,” Wyatt said. He took her hand. The one not holding his shirt. He looked in her eyes. “Is this okay?”
“Yeah,” she said, feeling starstruck.
Chloe had a whole plan for Julia’s first kiss. It involved borrowing one of Chloe’s halter tops and going to the soccer team’s back-to-school party at Cooper Losole’s lake house.
Julia had her doubts about this plan. She couldn’t see herself with any of Aiden’s friends.
“You don’t have toseeyourself with them,”Chloe had said.“You don’t have to, like,bewith them.”
“Like you’re not with Aiden?”
“Pre-cisely.”
But Julia couldn’t see herself even wanting to kiss anyone on the soccer team.
“It’s about growth,” Chloe said. “We are in the business of seizing opportunities.”
“What business is that?”
“The business of life, Julia.” That was how Chloe talked. Grandly. Like she was addressing several thousand followers. “Kiss somebody,” she said. “Live a little.”
“Can you see me?” Wyatt asked. He’d moved his face even closer.
“Yes,” Julia whispered.
“I like talking to you,” he said.
“I like talking to you,” she said.
“I feel like everything you say is real.”
(What a thing to say to a liar.)
(Julia hadn’ttolda lie.)
“I think you’re really funny,” Julia said honestly. “And really kind. And I think you might have the best smile in the world.”
Wyatt smiled from ear to ear. “I like your hair a lot,” he said.
