Page 93 of The Sun
I dropped my keys into his waiting palm, then he moved onto the group of girls behind me.
“Two hours until triple zero, people!” Ben shouted from the dining room.
I clenched my jaw. I hated him for what he had done to Daisy—ditching her because he didn’t understand what love meant.
Brandon leaned against the wall beside me. “Want me to punch him?”
“I wish.”
“Maybe he’ll come around?”
I watched Ben chug a beer and smile like his whole world was perfectly fine. And I guess, maybe it was. He didn’t have morning sickness, he still had no responsibility. He had passed that all off on Daisy.
“Doubtful,” I said, glancing back just in time to see Brandon’s eyes lock on something across the room. I followed his stare which ended on Darren Hill the tall, blond laughing amongst a group of soccer players. Darren was Travis’ new boyfriend. Aside from Brandon, Elias and I were the only people who knew about that.
“It’s hard, huh?” I leaned against him.
“I think what makes it the hardest.” A deep line sunk between Brandon’s brows. “No one knows we were anything to each other. That kinda makes it feel like it never even happened.”
I knew exactly what he meant. Most of the things we tend to keep hidden are wrong or dirty, secrets we don’t want anyone to know about. I’m convinced having to hide the dizzying bliss love creates takes a little something away from a person’s soul, and who wants to feel like loving someone is shameful?
Daisy crossed the room, water bottle in hand. “I figured this will be the last outing I ever get,” she said. “Soon I’ll be grounded until my own kid’s eighteen!”
It had almost been three weeks since Daisy took the test in the Circle K bathroom, and her parents were still none the wiser.
“You’re gonna tell them?” I deadpanned her.
“I have to. I’ve got a doctor’s appointment on the tenth, and they’ll see the bill from insurance. Figured I’ll tell them on the fifth.”
“Why the fifth?”
“That’s the day we go back to school.” She took a sip of water. “I’ll write a note on the dry erase board Mom puts to-do list on. Get milk, eggs, cheese. Daisy’s knocked up.” She almost smiled. “That should give them a few hours for it to sink in before I have to look them in the eyes.” Resting her head on my shoulder, she exhaled. “I should’ve listened to you. I evidently have no idea how to do life.”
I hooked my arm around her neck and swept my fingers through her hair. “Nah. I don’t know how this whole life thing works out either, Daisy. But we’ll figure it out.”
Brandon moved to Daisy’s other side and draped an arm around her.
And there we stood, three friends trudging into the New Year all with secrets that left us feeling a little broken inside for very different reasons.
At Thirty minutes to midnight,I was sprinting down Hailey’s paved driveway.
The cold air stung my lungs, but I picked up my pace when the headlights of Elias’ truck shined over the mailbox. I hopped in, scooting to the middle seat and pressing my lips to his before the door had even closed.
Elias finally broke the kiss and put the truck in drive, holding my hand and steering with the other as we drove off. I could never get close enough, and that was how I knew what we had was real. There were not enough days in a lifetime to grow tired of the way he felt like a sunrise and sunset all at the same time, warm and comforting. He was the promise of a new day and the possibilities of tomorrow.
We wove along the curved backroads that looped through the marshland, past the state park and down Rural Route 21 until the road teed off at the Parkway.
“Twenty minutes,” Elias said when he pulled into the beach parking. He cut the engine, smiling like he knew some secret to the universe he’d yet to disclose to me. Then he grabbed his backpack from the floorboard, opened the door, and we took off, our shoes pounding over the cold, worn boardwalk as we raced toward the beach.
“When did you get so slow?” he called over his shoulder with a laugh when he hit the end of the walkway and nearly tripped. Sand sprayed up behind him as he hurried toward our spot by the water’s edge.
By the time I caught up, I was out of breath, and he already had a quilt spread out.
“You know, you’re like a foot taller than me, and”—I gasped for a breath—“you’re stride’s longer.” Then I collapsed onto the soft blanket.
Elias pulled a small boombox out of his backpack followed by a bottle of Korbel and two plastic flutes. I felt my cheeks ache from a grin. While it was cheesy, it was sweet and romantic, and any girl would swoon over such a gesture.
“Aren’t you fancy?”
