Page 16 of No Way Home
“Griff!” his mom hollered from the kitchen. “Can you help for a sec?”
“Sure thing!” He kissed the tip of my nose. “Be right back.”
I watched him jog out of the room and smiled. The boy was tall. Like six four. On the skinny side but his broad shoulders were a promise that he’d fill out, no doubt.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket to check the time and found two texts from my best friend, Abilene.
Abilene
There is nothing wrong with you. NOTHING. You hear me?
Girl, forget him. 167 is human trash. Probably keeps a spreadsheet of all the girls he’s ghosted. #walkingick #emotionalscammer
The thing was, he hadn’t seemed like a scammer. He’d seemed like a good guy. One who could probably have any girl he wanted, but he was waiting for the right one to come along.
But it was more than that. I would never admit it to anyone—not even Abilene—but when he walked into the hall and I saw him for the first time, it was like my soul said, “Oh, there you are.” It had tripped me out at first. But as the evening went on, it only grew more intense. A feeling of rightness and peace. Just like Mom promised.
Up until Sole Mates, I’d always thought I was an exemplary judge of character. So imagine my devastation when—after hyping myself up for what I knew would bethekiss of my life—I walked out to find him gone.
At first, I convinced myself he’d just run downstairs to give his friend the keys to his car and he’d be back in five minutes, tops. But then ten minutes passed. Then twenty. By thirty, I stopped watching the door and started imagining full-blown emergencies. Maybe his grandmother had died. Maybe he’d eaten bad shrimp. Or been abducted by aliens.
I hated to admit it but Abilene was right. Because even if any of those were true, if he’d actually liked me, wouldn’t he have left a note with his number, at the very least? Or come back later to explain, since he knew where I lived?
I rubbed the center of my chest, trying to evict the ache that I was afraid had made a permanent home in my heart. Why did it still hurt? Sole Mates was weeks ago, and it was one date. And I was here. With Griffin. Wonderful, handsome, crazy about me, Griffin.
Maybe I was so awkward that he couldn’t handle it.
Maybe my breath was bad.
Abilene
STAHP.
You’re the least awkward person I know. Graceful? Refined? Brilliant? Gorgeous? Hilarious? YES.
And the only time your breath is bad is when you eat tuna. Everyone’s breath is bad when they eat tuna. You just got unlucky and picked a boy who was too pretty. Gray Eyes probably loves to run around breaking hearts. That’s what too-beautiful people do. It’s a game to him. Obviously.
He didn’t feel like a heartbreaker.
Or at least it felt like he was being super careful with mine.
Abilene
Until he vanished like a puff of smoke. Stop giving that boy grace!
Fine.
Abilene
Girl, you know what you need?
A steamy make-out with your hot ginger. DO IT.
Yeah.
But Griffin deserved to kiss the version of Maggie who couldn’t think about any guy but him. I had an hour, two tops, to get my head in the game. Our first kiss was coming. I’d felt it all day.
A family picture in the hall caught my eye, and I slipped out of the room to sneak a peek—anything to take my mind off 167 and refocus on the family I was about to meet. It was an old beach photo. Griffin couldn’t have been more than twelve. I pressedmy fingers to my lips and smiled. His cowlick stuck up, even back then.
