The Moth and the Flame (When Rivals Play #2) - B.B. Reid Page 0,41
smarter now.”
“You mean they know you’re full of shit?”
“Exactly.”
Miles and Leo were standing next to me now, and I felt one of them nudge me—most likely Miles—but I couldn’t look away from Wren and Sonny. As Wren talked with his friend, he seemed younger, lighter, more playful—as if he’d been transported back in time.
“So what are you doing here?” Sonny inquired. “Please tell me you’re here to give me some competition!”
I frowned, wondering what alternate universe I’d been transported to. Wren didn’t skateboard. At least, not the Wren I knew.
“I don’t skate anymore,” Wren announced, shocking the hell out of both Sonny and me but for different reasons.
“What?” Sonny shrieked. “What happened to you being the next Tony Hawk, Bam Margera, Rob Dyrdek? Actually, what I believe you said was that you’d be better.”
Wren rubbed his chin and winced. “Yeah, well, I talked too much back then.”
“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with having a dream, especially when you have the guts and talent to make it a reality.” Sonny shook his head and sighed as if Wren not skating anymore was truly a tragedy.
Considering what he’d given it up for, maybe it was.
“So what are you doing now?”
And just like that, Wren shut down, and I recognized my best friend once again.
“Working odd jobs,” Wren hedged. “Staying busy.”
I rolled my eyes. Odd jobs, indeed.
“Yeah, I was sorry to hear about your mom,” Sonny offered sheepishly.
“Yeah, thanks, man. It was good seeing you again.” Wren turned to me, seemingly dismissing Sonny altogether, and when I saw the empty look in his eyes, I wanted nothing more than to fill them again. I felt his fingers gently curl around my arm, and I placed a tentative palm on his muscled bicep.
“I want to see.”
His brows furrowed as he stared down at me. “See?”
“You skate. You never shared that part of yourself with me.”
“Because I don’t believe in looking back, Lou. It’s not who I am anymore.”
“And I don’t believe that. You’re bossy, temperamental, and sometimes cruel, but you’re not a coward.” I shot him a skeptical look. “Are you?”
“Is that a challenge?”
“You’re also intelligent,” I answered with a smirk.
He looked away and exhaled loudly through his nose. “I don’t have a board.”
“You can use mine,” Miles immediately offered. I was surprised by his eagerness and generosity considering Wren and Miles hated each other. Miles blamed Wren as the reason I wasn’t susceptible to his charms while Wren believed I was. Maybe Miles was just eager to see Wren make a fool of himself. Thanks to Sonny and all his excitement over witnessing Wren skate again, a large crowd had formed and every eye fixed on Wren was skeptical.
Even I wished I’d kept my mouth shut when Wren reluctantly accepted Miles’s board. Wren thanked him, and Miles nodded graciously, but the smirk he shot to Leo once Wren turned away had me shooting daggers at him. Miles went wide-eyed and shrugged with an expression that said, “What did you expect?”
I turned my attention to Wren, who had the board trapped under his foot and was gazing down at the bottom of the bowl, his expression blank.
I touched his fingers, and he flinched as if I’d electrocuted him. “Are you sure you can do this?”
He seemed amused when he met my gaze. “It’s a little late to have second thoughts, mouse.”
“Just admit that you’re excited, Harlan. Maybe even a little thrilled?”
He chuckled and then looked around at the crowd before saying with a wry twist of his lips, “I’m not ready to let you off the hook just yet.”
And with that, he went soaring over the lip of the bowl.
LOU DROVE ME CRAZY, BUT she also managed to bring a little more color into my world with each encounter. She didn’t know that I stayed away so long for her sake, but I also know if she did, she wouldn’t care. She wanted what she wanted, and for some reason, she wanted me. Lou would remind me often and passionately that I’d been the one to demand friendship as if the distance made me care for her less. If only I could tell her what staying away did to me. Doing so would open a door I wouldn’t want to close, and I’d made a vow not to ruin her any more than I already had.
Mr. Henderson had called me this morning, weary and concerned when he discovered Lou hadn’t come home from school. It was the arrangement we had to keep the state from