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Tuck grins from ear to ear. “Never said we couldn’t!”
I lift the head of the snowman for Tuck to position the chest protector. He shapes the top snowball so that the helmet fits over it, then props the hockey stick against the snowman and shoves the skates into the base.
We stand back to survey our competition. Hudson’s and Summer’s is pretty frumpy and basic. From the way his arms are wrapped around her waist while he’s standing behind her and taking a whiff of her hair, I think they spent more time kissing and flirting than constructing their snowman. Fair enough.
Maddie’s and Rhys’ is definitely a step above, but it lacks the accoutrements of ours.
“Fine, you win,” Rhys says as the four of them wander over to our snowman.
“Yes!” Tuck shouts. When he holds up his palm, I don’t hesitate to slap it, and when lifts me up and spins me around, I just let out a bouncing laugh, not even pretending to object to how he’s manhandling me.
“Let’s get a coffee to celebrate,” Tuck proposes after setting me down. His arm is still slung over me. “My treat, as the magnanimous victor.”
“Thanks,” Maddie says, “but me and Rhys are gonna go try to wake Lane up.”
“We’re in,” Summer says, her gaze sizing us up.
I know there’s a lot of analysis going on in that brain of hers as she looks at me snug in the crook of Tuck’s shoulder without trying to take a step away.
I also know I should be resisting this physical touch, trying to keep up the façade that there’s nothing going on between me and Tuck, but I just can’t summon the will to resist my urge to be close to him.
As the four of us set off to Last Word to see if it’s open, giggles reach us from where we left Maddie and Rhys. I turn around to see them lobbing snowballs at each other.
That certainly seems like something to keep an eye on.
A sudden breeze whips down the street once we step off campus, out of the protection of the huddled buildings. Tuck tugs me closer against his side, and I let him, nuzzling my head against the edge of his chest, seeking his warmth.
That warmth isn’t hard to seek. It’s like his body heat leaps off his chest and spreads through me. Other things spread through me, too. Feelings.
Feelings I said that I wouldn’t let myself catch, at least not this soon.
But the more time I spend with him, the more I realize that trying to keep myself from catching feelings for Tuck is like trying to keep the snow on the ground from piling up while big, heavy flakes are coming down from the sky.
34
OLIVIA
School is back in session the next day. After classes, Tuck and I head to the biggest hill in town and go sledding while Hudson and Summer are at the library working on a project for a class they’re taking together.
The hill is packed with sledders. The stark white landscape is dotted with color from sleds, jackets, and young kids’ snowsuits.
It’s certainly not a stealthy place for me and Tuck to spend time together.
But I’m finding myself less and less careful about keeping what’s happening between us hidden. I still don’t think I’m quite ready to tell anyone about it. Not even Summer, which makes me feel bad, because she’s never hidden anything like this from me. But I just need … a little more time.
It’s like I’m on a visitation deck on a skyscraper. I need to gather my courage before approaching the edge and coming face to face with just how far the drop down is.
Because I’ve never felt higher than I do with Tuck, and once all of our friends know about us, it’s going to be real—so real that there will be no fooling myself about how far I’ll go tumbling down if Tuck hurts me like Ryan did.
But as we’re spending more time together, that worry has grown from a loud, blaring warning in my head to a tiny, but still insidious, whisper that I’m able to tune out most of the time. But not all the time.
Sitting at the front of the sled between Tuck’s legs, my back pressed against his chest, feeling it rumble with laughter as we slide down the steep hill makes me feel like I’m floating.
While we’re standing at the top of the hill, I catch him off guard and push him into a big pile of snow. He leaps up and scoops me into his arms, tossing me into it, and this degenerates into a snowball fight as we run across the hill, dodging sleds.
When he catches me, he slings me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He picks up the sled and we walk home like that, me perched on his shoulder.
When he takes the opportunity to plant a possessive slap on my ass, I don’t even care who’s looking.
