Page 32 of Chasing After You
Her head pops up, and instantly I see it in her eyes, she knows what I’m about to say.
Then she opens her mouth before I have a chance to go on, “We should have brought marshmallows.” And changes the subject. Intentionally.
“What?” I shake off the sting of having been shut down before I even got the words out. Whatever her reasons are, I’m not giving up yet. “Why marshmallows? We didn’t have any marshmallows on our first date.” To be perfectly honest, I had planned to bring marshmallows that night, but my nerves turned my brain to shit, and I forgot them.
But Nessa never knew that.
She steps out of our embrace and shrugs. “Just seems like the night calls for s’mores, that’s all.” She turns her head, facing the fire instead of me. “Nate would be harassing the shit out of us right about now if he were here.”
“You made fire without marshmallows?” I mimic my son, perhaps with a bit of extra flair. “What’s even the point? You might as well have asked us to come and sit around a ring of rocks just to stare at the dirt and sticks inside.”
She laughs, then quickly covers her mouth looking guilty. “I’m sure there’s some parenting rule against mocking your children.”
“Yes.” I nod. “It’s don’t mock your children. Where they can hear you.” Because that could just come across as mean. “Unless they have a good sense of humor.” Which ours do. Nate would have been the first to laugh at my impression of him. And the loudest. And then he would have circled back around to how pointless a fire is without marshmallows.
“Speaking of mockery and humor,” she says with a sudden smirk. “Isobel does a wicked impression of you these days. Have you seen it?"
"No!" I can't believe she’s holding out on me. “Why wouldn’t she show me?” I give Ness a nod. “You do it. I know she’s probably done it for you a hundred times. Especially if it made you laugh. Then it was probably more like a thousand.”
Her grin only grows wider. Which means I’m right.
“Go ahead. Let’s see it.”
She bites her lip, taking a few steps back as if she needs the extra space to warm up and get into character or something. “You sure?”
“Absolutely.”
She takes a deep breath and lets it out nice and slow. The build-up here is really over the top.
“Alright. Here goes.” She closes her eyes like she’s reaching deep inside to channel her inner version of me. It can’t be that fucking hard to copy me. She’s only spent the bulk of her life getting to know who I am and how I act in every possible scenario.
I’m about to tell her to get on with it when her eyes pop open and she flips her head down, sending her wild blond hair flying before she flips back up, keeping the motion going like she’s a fucking headbanger or some shit.
Or, apparently, me. Because now I notice she’s also playing an ‘air bass’.
“Real fucking funny.” I run my hand through my hair, sweeping it back. It’s not quite as long as hers. But only because I just got it cut two weeks ago. Before that, it was longer.
She tries to stop her head-flinging cold turkey but ends up stumbling, probably dizzy from the motion.
“I’ve got you,” I laugh, catching her by the arm to steady her.
She giggles. I swear this flashback to our past is getting to me. She sounds just like she did when we were fourteen.
“Matti?”
“Yeah?”
“I think it’s time we climb a tree.”
I tilt my head back staring up into the limbs overhead. Then I dip my head back down to meet her eye to eye. “The only reason we climbed a tree last time, is because someone was feeling so wild and free, they accidentally threw their bracelet into the high branches while dancing around.”
Her hand moves to her collarbone. “You know that stone pendant I always wear?”
“Yeah.” She’s not wearing it now.
“I had it on before I did my Matti impression.” She grins awkwardly.
I shake my head, laughing. “Well, at least we’re keeping things authentic.” I reach into my pocket to retrieve my phone. A flashlight would have come in handy way back when. But cell phones weren’t the new Swiss Army Knife yet, and a real flashlight would never have fit in my pocket, so we went without. “Any idea which way you might have flung it?” I ask, starting to shine my light into the surrounding trees and brush.
