“Jeez, guys, can you please behave yourselves just for once?” Willow rolls her eyes. To her, my friends are like little brothers. Sometimes I think she’d like to teach us all to be a little more mature, but I’m afraid the time for that is long past.
“I have a feeling this is going to be fun.” Rayne gets up and comes over to me. I put a hand on her back. It feels like a reflex, though I don’t know where it comes from. I seem to have an urgent need to connect with her right now. She glances at me and bites her lower lip, just for a moment, before quickly looking away again. But it’s too late. My pulse races to dizzying heights and I feel much too warm.
Beck and Jax are laughing, and honestly, I hate my friends right now because I can’t concentrate when they’re making fun of me. Especially not when Rayne looks at me like that and bites her lip. Her pink, full lips. Fuck. I think I have a huge problem.
I have to force myself to look away from her, so I put on my shoes while she’s slipping into her jacket.
“Did you bring a hat?”
She stops. “No, why? Where are we going?”
“I’ll never tell.” I take off my hat and put it on her head. It’s a little too big for her, but it looks great on her anyway. She blinksup at me as I pull the soft knit hat a little too low on her forehead, my hands touching her face, and that’s not good. I let go of her abruptly, but I can see something change in her eyes.
“So it’s a surprise?” she asks, her voice a little huskier than a moment ago. But maybe I’m just imagining it.
“Yup,” I reply, quickly grabbing Beck’s hat, which is lying on the second step. He won’t need it anymore tonight.
Rayne looks like she’s about to object, then decides against it. We leave the house and walk to the van. It’s freezing outside, and the dark clouds are hanging so low that it’s bound to start snowing soon. It’s about time. The last few weeks have just been cold with no sign of precipitation. I want it to snow soon, otherwise I won’t be able to keep my promise to Rayne. Maybe it wasn’t such a great idea to promise her something I have absolutely no control over, but now it’s too late. I open the passenger door, and Rayne climbs in before I walk around the car and get behind the wheel.
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” I ask as the engine roars into life with a loud stutter.
She sighs heavily, and out of the corner of my eye, I can see her start playing with her rings again. “Maybe I just wanted to see you.”
My heart skips a beat. It’s really not good how much I want that to be the truth. Unfortunately, I know it’s not. “That sounds like a question.”
“But it’s not.”
My heart falters. No, don’t think about why, or what that means—whether it means anything at all. I take a deep breath and smile at her, then force myself to focus on what’s important.
“Rayne, I know you. I can see that something’s wrong.”
She’s silent. It’s a silence that speaks volumes.
“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. That’s okay,” I say gently, turning to look at her as I stop at a red light.
“It isn’t. I just don’t knowhowto talk about it.” She sounds frustrated.
“Let it out when you’re ready. And if you’re never ready, that’s okay too.” It’s crazy how much I want to take her hand right now. But the next second, the light turns green, and I hesitate for long enough that someone behind me honks their horn. So my hand stays where it is and the van starts moving again.
“Why are you so understanding, anyway?”
“Willow raised me properly,” I reply, and have to laugh when Rayne does.
Hearing her laughter feels like a victory. A victory over what, I don’t know, but it still feels that way. My throat feels strangely narrow, and I have to clear it before I point to the cable that’s attached to the radio and continue talking. “You can be in charge of the music.”
“You trust me with the music?” Rayne sounds almost surprised, but she’s already getting out her phone and plugging it in.
“Who could I trust more than you?”
“I don’t know. Your friends, maybe? I like them, by the way, even though their nicknames for me are annoying.”
“Yeah, seriously. But Rayne, you’re my friend too.”
Just a friend, Easton. Don’t forget that.
“That’s different.”
“No, it isn’t. Besides, I know your taste in music.”
