Page 76

My phone chimes with a text from Jase breaking me out of these thoughts.

Jase: You ok?

I smile, warmth snuggling my lips. I like that he’s checking in on me. It feels special, like my feelings matter.

I reply: Better

My stomach growls, so I follow up my last text: And hungry

Jase: Family picnic at curtain lake. Wanna join?

I almost reply that I can’t, I have to take my photo. Then an idea strikes. I can take it of Jase and his family. “Family” isn’t usually the first word people think of when they hear “love,” so that’ll win me points in originality. I love my family, but as much as it pains my heart, I don’t think they’d be keen on being in a photograph, even if it were taken by me.

To Jase, I explain my vision for my next photo, asking if his family is okay with being the main subjects.

Jase: They’re cool with it!

It’s not until I’m on my way there that I realize I’m meeting Jase’s family after spending so much time alone with him. Didn’t Aprilette, Nora, and Macros meet their boyfriends’ families before/after they officially became an item? But Jase and I aren’t like that.

This strong feeling runs through me, and it’s scary I can’t quite figure it out.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

The smell of lake and fresh grass welcome me when I arrive at Curtain Lake. Jase mounts himself off a silver picnic table occupied by a blonde woman (must be his mom) and a little boy (must be Jordan) and strolls towards me.

“Glad you could make it,” he says.

“Me, too, but I can only stay for an hour,” I say. Holding up my camera, the strap hanging around my neck, I add, “Have to put this back before my parents find out.”

His eyebrows lift, a grin spreading across his face, impressed. “You really are a badass goody-two-shoes.”

My heart and stomach flutter. “I know.”

The grass crunches beneath us as we stroll back to his table. Clouds of dirt shroud around our ankles with every step. We pass by a group of children playing tag, their giggles hiccupping as they chase after each other.

We sit on the bench opposite of Jordan and his mom. Even in khakis I feel the heat of the metal. I can see the Rivers family resemblance when his mom looks up, possessing that same gold rim around her blue eyes. She looks no more than twice my age. Her blonde hair drapes slightly past her shoulders, and her bangs sweep across her forehead. Jordan looks like a miniature Jase but with floppy hair, and he only has one arm. Behind them, Curtain Lake stretches until it reaches the mountains on the other side, its blue the same shade as the sky, and there are ducks floating across it, a few quacking.

“Why, hello there,” Mrs. Rivers greets with a friendly smile, “you must be Emilyn.”

“Jase talks about you a lot,” Jordan says.

A blush saturates my face. “Really?”

“Remember when I told you that he knows you’re tutoring me?” Jase says, reminding me of our conversation in line at Castle Play. I can’t tell if he’s embarrassed by the information his brother has shared, or if he simply accepts it. “I’ve also shown him some of your pictures.”

“They’re really cool!” Jordan says, his eyes widening so much I notice they also possess the same blue color and gold rim that Jase’s eyes have.

“Thank you so much,” I say, smiling.

“Emilyn, you’ve helped our Jase out so much,” Mrs. Rivers says. She pulls out a plastic container of sandwiches from her tote bag. “His quiz scores are higher than usual.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” I say. “He’s been working very hard.”

Mrs. Rivers’s eyes brighten. It’s the kind of gaze my parents gave when I won my school’s eighth grade science fair. “How wonderful!”

“I’m her top student,” Jase brags.

“You’re my only student,” I point out.