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“I’m dead serious.” He inches closer to me. “You said yourself, you need to trust this person. And you trust me, just like I trust you.”
The butterflies fluttering in my stomach take off violently, the sensation strange. “Michael…”
“You trust me. True or not true?”
A thread of comfort works its way through me at the familiar question. “True.” I lick my lips. “But I also said you need to like this person.”
He frowns, rearing back. “We’re friends. Of course we like each other.”
That’s not what I mean, but my throat closes. There’s no way I’m getting into that.
“You like me. True or not true?” he asks, his voice a little higher than usual.
“Tr-true. As…a friend.”
A full-blown smile spreads on his lips. “I like you as a friend too.” He holds his pinkie out to me. “Deal?”
I hook my pinkie around his and nod. “Deal.”
Our fingers are still hooked and we’re both grinning when the door to his room opens, and Aunt Ava’s voice filters out the window. “What do you two think you’re doing, sitting on the roof? Get back in here. Now!”
Michael and I scramble to our feet, collect our snacks and the blanket, and climb back through the window. His mom stands with her hands on her hips in the middle of the room. She’s wearing a summer dress with thick straps, her dark brown hair down around her shoulders.
“The other kids have been looking for you. When they couldn’t find you, they got worried and came to me.” Her green eyes flare with concern and frustration. “Thank God Meg told me you were upstairs.”
“Mom, it’s no big deal,” Michael says. “We were taking a break from the little kids, having a picnic.”
“On the roof,” she hisses.
I fight the urge to giggle. “We were careful.”
Uncle Colton steps into the room, his eyes dancing between the three of us. “What’s going on?”
His wife turns to him. “You’re not going to believe where I found these two.”
He looks at Michael, then at me, a mischievous smile breaking over his lips. “On the roof again?”
Aunt Ava’s jaw drops. “What do you mean again?”
With a wink, Uncle Colton turns on his heel and strides out. “Nothing.”
Aunt Ava rushes after him, firing question after question, leaving us alone.
“Looks like your dad saved us,” I say under my breath.
“He totally did,” Michael whispers back. “He’s awesome.”
Just like you are. As much as I want to tell him that, I don’t say it out loud.
CHAPTER FIVE
you like her
MICHAEL
Fourteen years old
The bell rings, signaling that school is over. Seconds later, Sienna asks, “Any fun plans for the weekend?” She twirls a lock of her blonde hair around her finger, her round blue eyes fixed on me.
