Page 191 of The Way the Heart Breaks: Jade’s Story

I point to the picture floating around in the solution. “That’s not the woods. That’s me and one of the few things that’s more important than football.”

“Okay?”

“One day, you’re gonna find a girl who tops the list of your favorite things, and you’re gonna do things to make sure she knows it, just so she’ll say yes.”

“Oh God. Are we having a sex conversation? You know I’m thirteen, right?”

I bust out laughing. “No, dude. We are not ever having the sex conversation. That’s between you and your father.”

“My dad doesn’t talk to me about sex. Coach V teaches health class.” He cringes.

“Oh man, so you got the banana in the condom…”

“So gross.”

“Well, there’s more important things than that, like homecoming.”

“You guys are gonna win. You’ve won every game.”

“You’re missing the whole play, my man. This picture? That’s better than flowers.”

“She can’t wear a picture on her wrist.”

This kid is a trip, I think.

“That’s correct. But when I ask her to be my date to homecoming, I’m gonna give her this picture and a cassette tape. Gonna say yes.”

“Lillian says she sees you two sucking face and making out in the hall. I think she’s gonna say yes without a picture or a cassette tape.”

“Of course she will. But in twenty years, do you think she’ll remember a picture and a tape, or just another kiss and making out in the hall?”

“Oh man, are you that bad a kisser?” He laughs.

“Hell no.”

I’m waiting at the car when Jade runs out of the locker room after their big Homecoming win against Cortland. Tessa and Phoebe both scored, but Jade held them at 2–1 when Cortland got a penalty stroke that would have tied the game.

“There’s my Ross.” I hold my arms open, and she dives into them. I twirl her around until I hear her giggle, then set her back on her feet.

“I’m not sure if I like it when you call me my Ross or my pretty girl better.”

“Two things can be true at the same time, so why can’t two names be that way too?”

“So, it’s like having your cake and eating it too?” She fishes around in my pocket for the keys.

I swear to God, I feel her fingers graze my dick and groan. “I think you do that shit on purpose.”

“Why Tommy Lane, you’re scandalizing me,” she giggles as she rounds the car and unlocks it. She climbs into the driver’s seat, and when she unlocks my door, I slide in beside her. “I believe it was you who said not until I’m eighteen.”

“I believe it was the law.” I push down on my thighs and lean back, trying to think of anything other than Jade.

But clearly she has other things in mind. Like torture. Pure fucking torture.

She leans over and kisses me. When she pulls back, she smiles, throws the keys into the ignition, and turns the car over. “It was my dad who implied that. The law clearly states seventeen is the age of consent.”

My jaw drops, and I have a million questions running through my head.

She puts the car in gear. “Got nothing to say, Tommy Lane?”