Page 103 of Between Love and War
The kiss is still on my lips, faint and electric like a ghost of something I shouldn’t be thinking about. And yet I can’t stop. And weirdly, it feels good.
Richard and I linger on the porch steps, letting the others scatter into the night like fireflies. He rocks back on his heels, watching the shadows stretch across the lawn.
“Are you guys always like this?” I ask.
“Embarrassing? Childish? Loud?” He grins. “Yeah, pretty much. Only when we’re around each other, though. It’s like… it reverts us to who we were when we first met.”
“Must be nice,” I say absentmindedly. “Being friends with these people all your life.”
“I guess,” Richard says, but his tone shifts. “But then that’s all they’ll ever see you as. Their friend.”
The pause between us stretches long enough to say what he doesn’t.
I know it’s about Haley. I’m not blind, I see the way he looks at her. I don’t know what’s going on with them, but from how I see it, he likes her.
And like the truebrothat I am, I don’t press. It makes me wonder what the others think when they look at Kate and me. If anyone else notices the wayIlook at her.
“So, you kissed Kate,” he says, and I freeze.
My stomach twists. “What?”
Richard shrugs like it’s no big deal. “I thought I saw it. Wasn’t wearing my glasses, so maybe I imagined it. But judging by your face… I didn’t, huh?”
I drag a hand down my face. “Dude.”
“Relax, man. It’s not like you committed a crime.”
It sure feels like I might’ve. Like I stole something fragile. Kate is… Kate. Sweet and careful and perpetually underestimated. She’s like everyone’s little sister.
“Sorry,” I mutter. I don’t even know who I’m apologizing to.
Richard squints at me. “Why are you sorry? She kissed you back, right?” I nod. “There you have it,” he adds.
And then he says, more thoughtfully this time, “She’s… never kissed anyone before. She always bragged about waiting.”
I knew that. I knew that I was her first kiss. “For the right moment?” I ask to confirm.
“No,” he says. “For the right kind of love, she says.” He shakes his head with a chuckle. “She’s always been one of those hopeless romantics.” And then he mutters under his breath, “Unlike her heathen sister.”
I laugh. “You really like her heathen sister, don’t you?”
“Unfortunately,” he replies. “Anyway, you ready?”
I nod, and we start walking. The grass is damp under our shoes, the night humid with the threat of rain that never came. Lights are still out. Everything is blanketed in soft darkness, broken only by the occasional flashlight beam or glow from someone’s phone screen. Manang Linda and the others are still in the garden, finishing off the buffet. They don’t even bat an eye to adults running around. It’s like it’s normal around here.
“I say we skip the obvious spots,” Richard mutters. “They’ll expect us to check the treehouse first. Haley always hides there.”
“Where would Katie hide?” I ask before I can stop myself.
Richard doesn’t answer right away, but he smirks. When we pass the chicken coop, he says, “She’s with Emily, right? Thatmakes things trickier. Emily’s more strategic with these things. Always one step ahead.”
“And Kate’s… not?”
“No, she’s the kind to hide in a very easy spot so the seeker will feel better about themselves.”
I don’t respond. I’m thinking of Kate’s laugh echoing in the garden earlier, the soft weight of her hand in mine, the way her lips tasted like lemon soda and something sweeter underneath. I’m thinking about how careful she was, how careful I was.
We pass the treehouse, just in case, but it’s empty.
