Page 84 of Heartbeat

“I love tomatoes,” he said, serious. “What’s your first memory?”

“Playing pirate with Liam; I was Blackbeard.” I then added, “First pet?”

“Cindy. Black lab. I got her as a gift for my fourth birthday. I say gift, but it was more of a bribe. My parents were divorcing, and Mom thought it would be a good idea for me to have some company.”

“Was she right?”

“She almost always is,” he reluctantly admitted. “You?”

“I’m always right too,” I said, making him chuckle.

He had the sweetest laugh. Somewhat goofy and extremely honest. I found the more time we spent together, getting him to laugh felt extremely satisfying.

“Any pets?” He rephrased the question.

“Oh. We had a German shepherd named Sandra when I was growing up.”

“Sandra?” he repeated, laughing.

“Yep. I also had a goldfish.”

“Let me guess, Goldie?”

“Frank.”

He laughed again.

“First kiss?” I asked him.

“Sabrina Mullins,” he was quick to remember. “We were watching My Girl at my mom’s house. It was barely a kiss.”

“How old were you?”

“Seven?” He smiled. “My first actual kiss was with Monica…I want to say…Jenkins. But I don’t think that’s right.”

I cuddled closer to him.

“She’s Dean’s cousin,” he said. “Two years older than me. We kissed at camp when I was twelve. “She said I was a terrible kisser.”

“Yeah, that Jenkins girl is clearly insane,” I told him, making him chuckle. “Did you cry?”

“No. Now, my second actual kiss? I cried because of that one.”

“Explain?”

“Robbie Taggert. We were fourteen,” he recounted, smiling. “We became friends during tryouts for the swim team. I got a spot; he didn’t. For months, we talked on the phone every night, spent all of our free time together, you know?”

Ethan hummed. “One day, we were walking back home from the park, and he just kissed me. I was so excited. But, the next day, he avoided me. When I went to confront him, he hit me and said he didn’t want to be my friend anymore. He never talked to me again. After school was over that year, he moved away. I cried for days.” He sounded not sad exactly. Disappointed maybe.

“That’s awful,” I said, adjusting myself and kissing his chest.

“How about you?” he asked, stroking my hair. “Who’s the first guy you ever kissed?”

“Christopher Chadwick. He was…a bit of a bad boy, which is a term I absolutely despise. Summer would say he was a troublemaker; Liam would tell you he was an asshole—they’d both be right. He was a good person though. Just a bit broken, but who am I to judge?”

“Hey.” He squeezed my arm.

“I was almost fourteen; he was fifteen. We sort of hooked up, on and off, for a few months.”

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