My hand catches her arm automatically before she can stumble, her fingers tighten around my bicep in return.
Her eyes lift and widen the moment she realizes it’s me. “Oh—” she breathes, a little caught off guard. “Uh… hey.”
“Hey,” I say, my voice quieter than I intended, my hand lingering for a second too long before I let go.
Her hair is pulled into a loose braid over her shoulder, a few strands slipping free around her face. She’s holding her notebook against her chest, fingers curled around the edges. And her eyes—those big green eyes—are looking straight at me. Can she chill for one fucking day and not look like that?
We both take a step back at the exact same time, like magnets forced apart. The hallway moves around us, people passing by, lockers slamming, voices echoing, but it all feels distant.
Her expression softens just a little. “How’ve you been?”
Well, terrible, actually.
“Fine,” I say, my voice a little shaky. “You?”
She nods too quickly. “Yeah. Fine.”
We both nod again. Like idiots.
“So… uh,” she says, glancing down the hallway before looking back at me, “what are you up to?”
“Going home,” I answer with a small laugh, pointing towards the entrance door.
“Right. Yeah. Of course.” She shifts her weight slightly, adjusting her grip on her notebook. “I’m just heading to Noah and Kiara.”
“Right.”
There’s another pause.
“Okay, well—” she gestures vaguely over my shoulder, already slowly putting space between us, “guess I’ll see you tonight. At the bonfire.”
“Oh—yeah.” I clear my throat. “See you tonight.”
She nods once. Then she walks past me, disappearing into the flow of people. And I just stand there for a second, thinking about the fact that I have to see her again tonight—which I definitely shouldn’t be looking forward to, considering it’s torture not being able to laugh with her or touch her or kiss her or talk to her.
But at the same time, I kind of want nothing more than to just benearher.
42
MADDY
You make it hard to forget you
“Okay, so I got the beer, Mel and Liam got the snacks, and Kiara just texted me saying she got the wine.”
I nod as Noah slides his phone into his back pocket. “Perfect.”
We walk side by side down the beach path—him carrying the beer crate, me balancing a stack of red cups.
And, annoyingly, my brain immediately wonders if Ryan is already there. Which I shouldn’t think about. But my mind drifts anyway. Back to this morning. To bumping into him.
“—right, Mads?”
I blink up at Noah. “Sorry, what?”
He looks like he might repeat himself, then just shakes his head. “Never mind.”
I nod and focus on the fire again.
