how awkward it got after that.”
Ryan smirked, undoubtedly recalling the red-faced detangling of limbs and general uneasiness as he and Candy joined our little private party. To call it “uncomfortable” would be like calling a sumo wrestler “sort of chubby.”
“You really didn’t know what hit you, huh?”
You mean it wasn’t a frigging Mack truck?
I wrapped my arms around his neck and managed a tiny smile back. “No. Like I said, it caught me off guard. There’s nothing to worry about.”
Ryan’s hands roamed up my back and he moved his lips closer to mine. “I didn’t like seeing you in some other guy’s arms,” he murmured.
Our lips brushed together. “I’m in yours now.”
“And you won’t keep things from me anymore?”
I kissed him, knowing he’d take it as a yes. Or a no, however you wanted to look at it. Right as the kiss became entirely inappropriate for school, the metallic sound of the double doors opening made us jump apart.
David stood in the hall, one hand curled around the shoulder strap of his bag, and the other clutching a piece of paper. And just as it had earlier that morning, my gut folded in on itself like an accordion.
“Um, sorry,” David said. “I still don’t know where I’m going.” He held up what I assumed to be his schedule. “Think I took a wrong turn.”
He made a move to retreat but stopped when I started toward him. “It’s okay. We were . . . talking. Where are you headed?”
The bell signaling the end of lunch sounded. David glanced at the paper. “Chemistry? Room A one-oh-one.”
“Oh. You were close. If you go back into the main hallway—”
“I’m headed that way.” Ryan sidled up behind me and rested a hand on my shoulder. “I’ll walk with you.”
My head snapped toward him. “I—um. You will?” My palms grew sweaty at the suggestion. Two seconds ago he’d wanted to rip David’s head off, and now he wanted to walk him to class?
“Yeah.” Ryan draped his arm around me as he moved to stand at my side. “Like I said, I’m going that way anyway.” He kept his eyes on David as he answered, and I could’ve sworn frost formed in the space between them.
David stared right back, his posture rigid. The corner of his mouth twitched. Whether it was the beginning of a smirk or a frown, I couldn’t tell. “That’d be great,” he said, a hint of sarcasm edging his words as he eyed Ryan’s cap. “We can talk baseball.”
If I’d looked down at that moment and seen my stomach land on the floor with a huge splat, it wouldn’t have surprised me in the least. “You’re joining the baseball team?” I croaked.
What a stupid question. He was obsessed with baseball, and he’d played at Norwood. Clayton would be lucky to have another pitcher as good as Ryan.
Not that Ryan would appreciate it. Oh, God.
Ryan strode toward David, almost like he’d forgotten I was there. “Sure.” He looked back at me when I grabbed his wrist, trying my hardest to make him read my mind. What the hell are you doing?
Half of Ryan’s mouth crooked up into a grin. “Don’t worry.” He bent and smacked a quick kiss on my lips. Under his breath he added, “I’ll be nice.”
The image of the two of them walking away together made my brain go haywire. I never imagined I’d see David again, period, let alone see him strolling down the halls of Clayton High, side by side with my boyfriend. It seemed inherently wrong, like the world should implode at any second from the sheer wrongness of it.
There was no implosion, though. Just the terrifying realization that my two worlds had finally collided.
Four
Rhode Island
Summer before Freshman Year
“It’s Shake It Till You Make It tiiiiiime!” Dad bellowed as he burst into the living room.
“Yes!” Miranda pumped her fist, promptly abandoning her video game remote on the couch cushion and running over to him. “I’m getting the Chocolate Disaster!”
From the kitchen, my mother groaned. “Kevin, why do you insist on doing that challenge every year? Then I have to listen to you moan about how sick you feel for the rest of the night.”
“Tradition, Amanda!” Uncle Tommy called as he galloped down the stairs. “Victory will once again be mine!”
Three summers ago, Dad had decided on a whim—more like a mutual dare—that he and Uncle Tommy should go up against each other in the Shake It Till You Make It challenge at the Bellevue Ice Cream Shoppe. Store