Page 80 of A Minute More

My hand wraps around his waist, and I pull him toward me, pressing my chest to his back, my face into his neck.

“Is it weird that I feel so much for someone I barely know?” I whisper.

“No…I don’t know.”

“I have never in my life been this consumed by someone else.”

“I know. I can’t…sometimes…Wesley…you steal my breath from my lungs. I don’t know how to breathe without you.”

It’s too fucking much, the confession, so I hold him to me tighter.

“We have two months still. We can see how it goes….”

“I know better,” he says. “We should end it before it gets to be too much. We should end this now.”

But neither of us moves away from the other. We just hold on, my body plastered to his, his hand on my forearm, holding me in place. And that’s how we fall asleep.

The two of us clinging to each other.

* * *

“These games are rigged,” Simon says as we make our way through the fairgrounds. Poppy is holding onto my hand and my mom is in line at a concession stand, grabbing us food.

“Yeah, but they’re fun,” I tell him. “And we have to at least try. I want to win you something. Something you can take to college…something to remember me by.”

He peers up at me, and I desperately want to kiss him, want to slide my tongue into his mouth, but this morning things have been stilted and quiet. I have a feeling that had Simon driven himself to my mom’s house, he’d have snuck out before I had a chance to wake.

But he was still there when I pried my eyes open. Small mercies and such.

“I’d like that,” he says softly, and I reach out to squeeze his hand.

“Okay, I bought ten hot dogs…” my mom says and holds out a basket to us.

“Why’d you get so many?” I ask with a laugh, and she shrugs.

“I didn’t mean to, but I think the guy misheard me, and I didn’t want to correct him. I felt bad. So eat up, kids. This was like a hundred bucks.”

Poppy grabs one and bites into it while I do the same.Simon eyes them warily, but my mom notices and plops a big plate of french fries in his hands with a wink. He smiles softly at her, and my heart just explodes.

“I want to go on that rollercoaster now!” Poppy shouts.

“Yeah, you can, but after you eat and maybe a little after that. I didn’t bring you a change of clothes for when you puke on yourself.”

“I’m not going to barf. I’m seven, Mommy.”

My mom smiles at her and then leads her to a small park bench which is blessedly open. We all sit down, digging into the food and planning out the rest of the day. Simon’s sitting next to me and yet he’s still a little too far away.

I don’t like that. Not one fucking bit. I scoot a little closer and he spreads his legs slightly, his knee touching mine. Even that little touch grounds me and gives me hope.

“Oh my god! Wes?” a familiar voice says, and I turn my gaze to see an ex-girlfriend of mine beaming down at me. In my periphery, Simon stiffens, his eyes swiveling over to…shit. What was her name?

God, I’m an asshole. I fucked her for months and can’t recall her goddamn name.

“Hey,” I say and then stand up and pull her into a hug. “Good to see you.”

“Yeah, me too. Oh my god, this is such a surprise. Hey, Mrs. S.”

My mom waggles her fingers at her. “Hi, Ava.”

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