Page 35 of Falling Into Forever
He stands quickly and is in front of me a second later. How in the world does he move so gracefully when I fumble around the world like a drunk girl hearing P!nk’s “Raise Your Glass” at two in the morning?
Life isn’t fair.
“She did say that, didn’t she?” His words are buttery smooth. Why, oh why, do I have to react to him? Him! Of all people, he has to be the one to break my feelings ban. This is why he was never supposed to come back. “She also said to act like we’re actually in a relationship. That means we should be out doing something.”
“Out?” I gulp. “Out where?”
He stares at me, and I shift my weight from foot to foot. Geez, Dante. I’m not a Rubik’s cube you can’t solve. “I don’t know, Sayl. The beach? A park? A fucking walk? Anything outside of these four walls.”
“I—I don’t go out.” I say it like he suggested we get dinner on Mars, because for me, they’re the same. “And we already established I don’t swim when you hauled me from the lake. You and me outside is a freaking mess.”
“Granted, we’re unconventional, but we’re not a mess.” His hypnotic voice matches the shimmer in his eyes.
“What? Of course, we are.”
His face practically glows. He’s wearing the same expression that could always get me to freefall straight out of my comfort zone. I take a giant step back. And then another.
“I’ll finally teach you to swim.”
I stumble back another step and shake my head. “I—I don’t swim.”
“I remember. I’ll teach you. I’ll keep you safe, promise.” He flashes a dimpled grin that reminds me of book fairs and football games. He would keep my body safe, there’s no question in my mind about that, but the answer is still no.
I can barely swallow, let alone make my words work. They come out frog-like and painful. “I don’t swim,” I repeat.
“Maybe it’s time,” my traitorous twin says from my bed. I forgot she was listening.
Dante pokes his head over my shoulder, and rainbows shoot from his eye holes as he pushes past me and belly flops onto my bed like he’s seventeen again.
“Why, hello, beautiful sister.”
How the hell can he be so happy-go-lucky when the sky is literally falling all around us?
“That has never worked on me, Dante,” she says shyly even as she turns an embarrassing shade of red.
“Obviously,” I snort.
“Don’t hurt her, or I will cut you into little pieces. I learned how to do it in med school.” She’s too soft-spoken for the threat to be menacing, but I love her for trying.
“I’m not going to hurt her.” He turns his head, and his gaze devours me. Electricity shoots between us, making the entire room feel charged. “Give me theCliffsNotes, Ains. How do I get Saylor out of her shell? What should our second chance first date be?”
“Ah…” Poor girl. I can picture her discomfort without ever looking at the screen. “I don’t suppose you want to hang out dusting her books?”
“If that’s a euphemism for something dirty,” he says with a cluck of his tongue that has me grinding my teeth, “you need to take some vocab lessons from your sister.”
“Ugh. No, D.”
I suck in a breath. My sister falls right back into easy banter with him while I’m a hot mess of half-cocked stories.
And he’s laughing like he hasn’t been missing from our lives for the last six years.Easy on the sass, Sassy. It’s your fault he’s been away. A shiver runs down my spine like a kiss from a ghost.
“Tell me where to take her,” he says, dangling his feet off the edge of my bed.
“Well. How brave are you?” she asks. I don’t recognize that tone. My sister never stirs the pot or participates in gossip of any kind, yet that tone from her mouth puts me on high alert.
“I’ve always been brave. And I’ve had to grow a pretty thick skin in California.”
I don’t dare speak, but I slide my pendant along the chain from one ear to the other while I listen.
