what would your kisses say?” I asked.
He smiled slowly, eyes still closed. “I like you. I have fun with you. Do you like me, too?” He opened his eyes.
“Do you want to kiss me?” I asked. I’m not sure even Jane Lloyd had this much Trust your partner in mind when she wrote that rule.
He coughed and rubbed the back of his neck. “You have no idea how much,” he said, and my stomach flipped. “But I want you to really want to kiss me back. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems like if we kissed now, you’d be worried. And thinking about Ben.”
I nodded slowly. “I think you’re right.”
“That’s okay. You’ve been through a lot.”
I twisted my hands together. “One last question. Purely academic. Do you know how to take a bra off with one hand?”
He spluttered. “Uh, we . . . that is, Micky did not teach me the finer points of—I mean, my god, a sister can only—”
“Good.”
I leaned my head on his shoulder, and he wrapped an arm around me. He smelled like coconuts. And even though the rain was still coming down, and we didn’t know when it would end, I felt safe.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
We ate (all) of our sandwiches in the cave and talked and talked, holding hands. I knew Ben was going to be furious, but occasional thunder still crashed and lightning lit up the sky—and he himself had yelled about a storm’s danger.
By the time the rain slowed to sprinkles, it was two o’clock. Jesse peered out of the cave and into the clouds. “Clear skies are coming,” he observed, “I think we can emerge from hibernation.”
We clambered out, slung our backpacks in place, and reached for each other’s hands.
“So. Cult conversion tonight?” I asked as we scooted around the rock and up the deer path.
He stifled a laugh. “Yeah. Someone’s getting their Eagle. I know you’re joking, but I think if you saw that ceremony out of context, it wouldn’t seem far off.”
“Are you an Eagle Scout?”
He ducked under a wet, heavy tree branch. “Not yet. Hopefully by the spring of senior year. It’s a lot of work. Only four percent of Boy Scouts ever become Eagle Scouts. And Eagles Scouts go on to—”
“You aren’t trying to convert me, are you?” I smirked, pushing him a little.
Laughing, he shook his head. “Okay. Tonight’s out . . . so when can I see you? How much longer are you here?”
I breathed in the post-rain ozone-y air. “Another week. And I don’t know. A lot is going to depend on . . . you know.” I bit my lip, a Ben-shaped pit returning to my stomach.
Jesse nodded. “Okay. Well . . . when we know more, we could leave each other notes. I could slide something under the door of your cabin if no one’s there. And you could leave one . . .”
“Under the cushion of that chair on the Gilda porch. Or is there something by the gate?”
He smiled. “That chair is great . . . It’ll be nice to text someday.”
“But,” I reminded him, “texting means we’re not together in the mountains anymore.”
“It also means you aren’t on the worst-behaving improv team in the history of America anymore, either.”
I chuckled. “True. Well, in the meantime, it’s a good thing I love a chatty, handwritten note.”
Smiling, he tugged on my hand.
We were quiet until we returned to the main path.
“What is he going to do when you come back late?” Jesse asked in a voice laced with worry.
I watched a far-off bird swoop down into the trees. “I don’t know.”
He pulled us to a stop. “Can I come with you? Act as your alibi?”
I grinned and faced him, taking both of his hands in mine. “What would you say?”
“Uh . . .” He put on a deep voice. “She wasn’t skipping, Ben. We were stuck in a cave during the storm. I promise—I was with her the whole time.”
I laughed and dropped my head. “That would make everything worse!”
Scoffing, he squeezed my hands. “Why wouldn’t he believe me? I’m a Boy Scout, after all. The goody-two-shoes stereotype’s gotta be good for something.”
I looked up into his face, and his grin made my heart beat faster. “Oh, he’d totally believe you. That’s the problem. He’d be furious that we were together during the storm. And even more furious if he knew that we’re tog—” Suddenly, all my words were gone. And my breath. And my balance. Maybe this was a case