Page 15 of All the Ways You Save Me
“Hey,” Adam cuts in, but gently. “Don’t feel like you have to act a certain way for me. I don’t want you to downplay what happened to you because I lost my parents. I just want to get to know you.All of you.”
My breath hitches as Adam slides a hand against my cheek and turns my face toward his. “Don’t ever be sorry for talking about what matters to you,” he continues. “It’s nice to be with someone who understands how hard it is to have your life upended. Like you said, not many people get it.” He gives me a sad smile. “Jason is the best friend I could ever imagine. I’d doanythingfor him. But objectively, he hasn’t had a lot of friction in his life. I mean, we all get sad and have things we struggle with, but he has trouble understanding when I’m feeling really down and can’t just snap out of it by doing a workout or going to a party.” Adam lifts a shoulder. “He tries, but his life experience is so different than mine.”
I turn my body so I’m facing him completely, my knees resting on his thighs. “You can talk to me any time. And you can be as sad as you want.” We’ve only known each other for a few days, but this connection feels so much stronger. Our eyes meet, and the air thickens between us.
He weaves his hand into the hair at the nape of my neck. “When I’m with you, I feel the opposite of sad.”
I lean closer, my breath mingling with his. “I feel the same way.”
Our mouths connect, gentle, sweet, with the hint of more to come. It’s the perfect first kiss on the perfect day.
When we break apart, Adam leans back, studying my face as if he can’t believe I’m real. “Jason might seem like he has it all, but today,I’mfeeling like the luckiest guy in the world.” His mouth curves upward. “Because I get to be here with you.”
NINE
TEN YEARS AGO
Adam
I leave Madeline on her front step with one more lingering kiss, and then I drive home to Jason’s house with the windows down and “Everlong” by the Foo Fighters blasting through the Bronco’s speakers. I inherited a box of cassette tapes along with the car, and all those nineties rock bands bring back memories of my dad. But I’m not thinking of him right now. I’m thinking about Madeline’s warm mouth exploring mine, her tongue teasing my bottom lip, her soft curves pressing against my chest.
I couldn’t have planned a better date than this one, and I’m still a little stunned that not only am I falling for the perfect girl, but she seems to feel the same way about me.
I park at Jason’s house, and when I enter through the garage, I find him playing a video game on the couch that doubles as my bed. When I flop next to him, he tosses aside the controller and sighs dramatically. “Well, Olivia and I are done.”
I roll my head toward him. “That sucks, man. Want to talk about it?”
Jason and Olivia only hung out a couple of times, which ispretty typical for him. He has kind of a short attention span when it comes to girls. But judging by his slumped posture, he does seem a little more dejected than usual about the relationship’s demise, so maybe he really liked Olivia.
“What happened? Maybe you can work it out?”
“I can’t take all the drama.” He shakes his head. “I’m destined to be alone.”
I press my lips together to hide my smile. “I’m sure you’ll end up hanging out with someone else soon.”
“Nah. What’s the point since”—he shoves an elbow into my side, and I hold out an arm to defend myself—“you got the only girl worth dating in the entire class?”
I roll my eyes because I know he’s joking. Maybe Jason had a thing for Madeline on the first day of school, but he moved on from it about as quickly as he will from Olivia. Jason is more of a flirt than anything. And he’d never pass up a chance to needle me for a reaction. We’ve been giving each other shit since elementary school.
“So, how was the date with Madeline?” Jason pulls a plastic bag from his pocket with a small bunch of a greenish-brown herb tucked into the bottom.
“What the hell is that?” I ignore his question, grab the bag from his hand, and hold it up to the light. Of course I know what it is, I see kids smoking weed at parties all the time. But since he competes on the baseball and swim teams, Jason never seemed interested. Now, though, he snatches the bag from my hand and pulls out a packet of rolling papers.
“You’re smoking weed now?”
“Just for fun.”
“Where did you get it?”
He gives me an exaggerated shrug. “I know a guy.”
I watch him roll a joint, light the end, and take a drag. Then he silently offers it to me, still holding thesmoke in his lungs.
“No, thanks.” I’m pretty cautious about drugs with my dad’s history with alcohol.
Jason blows the smoke into the air, and I watch it rise toward the ceiling.Shit.I stand up and wave my hand in the air, trying to disperse the smell before it seeps into the vents. Since I live down here, his parents are going to think I’m the one smoking weed in their basement. I cross the room to open a window.
“Dude, the date?” Jason says when I sit back down, and for a minute I have no idea what he’s talking about. And then he shoots me a grin. “Did you ask her to be yourgirlfriend?”
