as he leads me past his living room and up the stairs. “I’ll give it to you upstairs after I get you some clothes.”
“Worried I’ll get sick?” I ask jokingly.
He nods. “Despite what you think, I actually care about you,” he says, his words so sincere they catch me off guard again.
KAYDEN HARRISON
I probably shouldn’t have said that. But I couldn’t help it. Seeing Ari in my house is a foreign vision and it’s throwing me off.
Earlier, I didn’t expect her to ask about my mom. And then, I wanted to tell her all about it. I still may, even though I haven’t told anyone else. For some reason, I want to tell her.
I can already tell she’s overthinking my words. The shocked look in her eyes tells me so. She probably doubts they’re true; I mean, I would if I were her.
We reach the top of the stairs and I open the first door on the left to my room. “Come in,” I tell her. She lets go of my hand and walks in ahead of me. I stare down at my hand for a second, missing hers.
“Are you just going to stand there?” She asks, always the smart-ass.
I shake my head. On my way to the dresser, I turn around and head to my closet instead. From the very top of the closet I grab something I know will get her to smile.
“Hey, Ari! Catch!” I tell her, tossing it her way.
She catches it with one hand, securing the blanket around her body with the other. “What the—” she starts.
I cut her off. “Great reflexes.”
“You’re not the only one who can catch things,” she says, and while I know she’s referring to the fact that I play baseball, I can’t help but tease.
“Hmm, you’re saying you catch things too… like what? Feelings?” I joke.
She rolls her eyes. “Your ridiculous. Wait, is this a onesie?” She asks, finally unrolling the pajamas I threw her way.
I nod.
“You’re kidding, you are kidding!” she says, inspecting it. “You own a superman onesie!” She says, laughing.
“I do,” I tell her, matching her smile with one of my own.
“Why?” she just stares at it in shock.
“We had a costume party freshman year. We were all superheroes, but instead of capes we wore onesies,” I tell her. It was a baseball bonding thing, apparently.
“This one has a cape too!” She says, flipping it around.
I shrug. “Heroes need capes. I refused to wear one without it.”
“And you’ve kept it this whole time?” she asks, and I love that pulling out this old thing moved us away from the awkwardness we had started to enter.
“I sleep with it every day,” I tell her.
She throws it back my way. “Then, here you go.”
“I’m kidding. I haven’t worn this since the party. You can wear it tonight,” I throw it back her way.
This time, she extends both hands to catch it and the blanket falls to the ground. “Oops!” she says, picking the blanket up almost instantly and covering her body once again.
“Nothing I haven’t seen before,” I tell her then realize when her smile is replaced by a frown that she’s getting the wrong idea. “I did see you stand on top of the rock wearing exactly this… then we walked to my car,” I add.
I don’t want her to misinterpret my words and when I see her cheeks redden I know she hasn’t. “Right. Really shouldn’t have done that,” she replies. “Anyway, where’s your bathroom?”
“Just across the hall,” I tell her.
“Can I borrow your phone? I can call my mom while I’m changing to let her know I won’t be making it home tonight,” she tells me.
“Just don’t tell her you’re staying with me,” I tell her.
Her parents would kill me if they knew their daughter was spending the night at my place. That alone should stop me from doing this, but it certainly won’t. I walk out into the hall, grab the house phone we never use, and hand it to her. “Here you go. There’s a towel in the bathroom. Go ahead and take a quick shower so you can wash away the lake water. I’ll do the same.”
“You are not showering with me!” she screeches.
I roll my eyes and pretend that’s the craziest idea she could come up with. “Not at all what I was saying. There’s more than one shower in this place. I’d rather shower outside than join you.”
“Wow. Well, great!” she says, taking the phone from my hand. Her fingers brush