I look at Steve.
“He’s going to arrest us,” Steve says.
“No, he’s not. He’s not going to do shit.”
“How do you know?”
I smile.
Then I say one word.
“Run.”
I see Emily standing against the tree and I smile.
This girl is pretty.
No, not pretty.
She’s beautiful.
No, not beautiful.
I don’t know what comes after beautiful but she’s it.
She’s innocent.
She’s so nice.
I sometimes feel bad for her because everyone overlooks her.
She’s invisible in the hallways, but not to me.
She doesn’t play sports. She doesn’t do cheerleading. She doesn’t date. There’s no rumors about her. Nothing.
The closest was when that asshole Tommy tried telling everyone he slept with her at a party once.
I jacked Tommy against his locker and told him if he said anything about Emily again I was going to break his jaw.
And I meant it.
The thing is… Emily and I were always good friends.
She was the only person I could be smart around.
And I was the person she could be with to test the edge of the waters.
We’re good friends. And crossing lines isn’t smart.
But time is running out.
I can’t graduate and not know what this could have been.
So I walk toward her, marveling at her beauty.
She’s looking up at the stars and has this little smile on her face.
She’s killing me. In a good way.
“It’s perfect out here,” she says to me.
“Yeah, it is,” I say. “The stars. The music in the background. Sorry about being late. I had to run from the cops.”
Emily jumps at me and grabs my hand. “What?”
I laughed. “It’s nothing. I’m here though. I’m glad you met me.”
“Me too.”
“I have to tell you something.”
“Me too,” she says again.
“What do you have to tell me?”
“I’m moving away,” she says.
“What?” I ask.
“I know,” she says. “It sucks. It’s only like an hour from here. I have to go… this weekend.”
“This weekend?” I ask.
She nods.
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I didn’t want… I don’t know. I only told Robin. I just didn’t want it to be sad. Nothing is going to change.”
Everything is going to change.
“Oh, Em…”
She blushes when I call her Em.
“We can still hang out, right?” she asks.
An hour drive just to see her. It was more than worth it.
But there’s no way it would work.
I’m two months from graduating and then I’m off to college. I’ve got my sights set on law school and then moving right into the city to get a job, make money, and live free.
Emily… she’s… she’s into artsy stuff but hides it. She’s good at drawing. She writes poetry. She plays guitar. And she sings.
I can see her going to some art or music school and thriving.
And if I kiss her right now, it could fuck that all up.
She can’t throw her dreams away for me.
We can’t have a long-distance thing.
Fuck. This sucks.
“Em…”
Fuck it, Liam. Just do it.
I reach up and touch her face.
She puts her hand to my hand and starts to nod.
“It’s been so long… I mean, between us… and… I just…”
I hear an echoed yell of the word COPS and I look back.
Sure enough, there’s Prickfuck charging from the back of the barn, looking for me.
I tell Emily to go somewhere safe.
I don’t want her to get into trouble.
I can smell the booze on her breath.
So I walk toward Prickfuck with a grin on my face.
But my heart hurts a little.
I missed my chance with Emily once again.
And with her moving away… me leaving for college soon…
Sometimes things just aren’t meant to be.
Chapter One
Liam
I stood at the dining room table and flipped through the pages of the quiz.
The quiz.
I shook my head.
Why the hell do I have to take a quiz to get married?
Some of the stuff I had to do just felt… weird.
Like the wedding was turning into some big cliché.
I already told myself if someone showed up with birds and set them free, I was going to walk away. For real.
The apartment door opened and slammed shut.
“Tell that little shit stain to get me the deposition by noon,” Miranda growled. “If it’s not on my desk in perfect order, I will take the elevator to your floor and I will shove your head up his ass. Do you understand me?”
I looked at Miranda and smiled.
She blew me a kiss.
“Thanks, Rich,” she said in a bitchy voice. “You’re so kind.”
Miranda ended the call and threw her phone across the apartment to the couch.
“Fucker,” she said.
“Good morning to you,” I said.
“No, it hasn’t been a good morning at all. This phone has been ringing since four. Four, Liam. Four. As in four in the fucking morning. I’m tired of it.”
“So don’t answer the calls,” I said.
“Who will then?”
“Your name isn’t on the building.”
“Yet,” she said. “And when it is, I’m taking three weeks’ vacation. I’m getting a big office. I’m going to buy expensive perfume. I’m going to walk around like my poop doesn’t smell.”
I laughed. “At least you got your favorite coffee.”
She looked at her left hand. “Yeah. I had to get it on my own though.”
“You wanted me to get it?” I asked.
“It would have been nice.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I was sleeping. You said you were getting up at six. I had things planned out.”
“Like what?” she asked.
I moved closer to Miranda. I tucked her hair behind her ear. “I was going to wake you up with my tongue. Start at your neck. Work my way down. Write you a quick love letter with my tongue between your legs. And then I was going to get your coffee.”
“Yeah, good luck with that,” she said.
She turned and walked to the kitchen and put her coffee down.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as I stared into the living room.
“I’m stressed, Liam,” she said. “And you know, when I get stressed… I just…”
“I know,” I said. “It’s okay. If there’s anything I can do to help you.”
“You just want to get laid.”
I laughed. I slowly turned. “It’s not just about that, Miranda.”
“Of course it is. You want me to be young again. Things change. People change.”
“I’m not worried about that,” I said. “I want you to be happy. It’s been a while since we… enjoyed each other’s company.”