Page 51 of Save Us
Read through Ember’s blog post and work on the queries from the weekend (+ shower her with sisterly love and maybe find out the mystery person she’s spending so much time with)
Cook with James (♥)
As of yesterday evening, James has his own color in my journal. Even now, hours later, I get goose bumps all over my body when I remember the way he looked at me when I told him so. It’s the same when I remember his lips roaming up and down my throat, and his hands slipped gently under my jumper, causing me to make sounds that I tried to muffle in my pillow.
“Are you sure it’s a good idea to do that on the bus?” James asks, dragging me out of my thoughts.
I feel my face flush warm and clear my throat. “You’re underestimating my skills.”
He eyes the black book on my lap. “I just don’t want you to shake. When that happened last week, you threw your pen at me.”
“That was a one-off. The page was frustrating me. And last week was…last week,” I explain, tracing over the loop at the bottom of the “Y.” “This week, everything’s going to be better.”
At that moment, the driver brakes so abruptly for a bus stop that I slide forward and have to brace myself on the seat in front so as not to break my nose. Startled, I look down at my bullet journal. There’s a black line right across my brand-new page.
“Argh! No!” I glare at the driver. Obliviously, he shuts the door and pulls away again. “This is only because you’re with me, James. I’ve done hundreds of pages on the bus, and this is the first time anything like that has ever happened.”
“Now you’re acting like it was me who made us take the bus,” he replies dryly. “If we’d gone in the car, we’d have been at school in half the time.”
“Iwanted to mark the occasion by going by bus.” I jab my pen at James. “Youwould have been more than welcome to go in your car.”
“Well, one, I didn’t want to leave you to go on your own. And two, you have a talent for making boring stuff like bus journeys sound lovely and relaxing, which they totally aren’t.”
He watches me for a moment as I try to turn the black line into a moderately aesthetically pleasing tendril of flowers. Then he strokes the hair out of my face with one hand and tucks it behind my ear.
“I could get used to this,” he says quietly.
I turn to look at him. “To taking the bus?”
He smiles at me. “That too. But I meant waking up with you in the morning.”
I feel the heat in my cheeks again. He makes it sound like we’re sharing a bed, but we haven’t done that since the night in Ophelia’s guest room.
“Although you live in a madhouse. Helen was up at four this morning, and Ember’s energy levels at six a.m. are really not normal.”
“Mum got a new boss a couple of weeks ago, and I think she’s still really keen not to be late. But as for Ember…” I say, shaking my head. “I really don’t know how she does it. She doesn’t even drink coffee.”
“Crazy.”
And it’s just as crazy how natural it feels now to speak to James about my family.
“I love having you to stay,” I say after a while.
James looks sideways at me, his eyes warm. Then he puts an arm round my shoulder and pulls me close.
The journey to school crawls and flies by at the same time. Just before we arrive, I stand up and swing from post to post down thebus. It’s a real battle not to grin as I hear James stumbling along behind me.
When we get to the stop, I notice how jittery I am, and how fast my heart is racing. It feels almost like my first day at this school. Then I get off and stop still as I see who’s waiting for me.
“Surprise!” cries Lin, spreading out her arms.
My friend isn’t alone.
