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"What's this?" I ask as I hold the material against my chest.
"You're shivering," he shrugs, like it's obvious or something.
He closes the trunk, locks the car up, and puts on the other sweatshirt. He begins walking towards me, shoves his hands into the pockets of his black jeans, almost as if he's nervous.
When he stops in front of me, I see his brown eyes soften. "Why are you crying, Jenny?"
I lift my free hand to my cheek and feel the cool wetness coating my face. I hadn't even realized I'd been crying.
I don't answer him but slip into the warm sweatshirt and inhale Kyle's expensive cologne. Dangerous, dark, yet, somehow comforting.
"Come on," he says, motioning his dark head towards the coffee shop at the end of the street.
"I hate coffee," I tell him. Although, he should know that. Our families spend enough time together. Vacations, dinners, barbeques. I know he drinks coffee like it's his life source. Shouldn't he know I don't drink it? Not even if my life depended on it.
He shakes his head playfully at me, then motions for me to start walking beside him.
We let the silence settle over us as the sun starts slipping behind the mountains. It's comfortable, this silence. Always has been with him.
"Do you think I'm pretty, Kyle?" I'm not sure what prompts me to ask. I guess he's the most attractive guy I've ever seen. I don't particularly care for his personality, but he can have—has had—any girl he wants. If anyone's going to be completely honest with me, I know it's him.
He steps in front of me, turns to face me, pauses for a moment before answering. "I think you're beautiful, Jenny." I wait for him to follow up with something, anything to make a joke out of this. To hurt my feelings. To make me feel bad like he always does. But he doesn't. He just stares at me, like the words he spoke are supposed to mean something to me.
I feel the corner of my lips involuntarily shift upwards. "I don't have any money, so my hot chocolate is on you."
I push past him, hear him chuckle lightly to himself, and then follow me to the corner where he opens the coffee shop door. We both step out of the cold air and into the warmth.
And for once, the fact that I'm with Kyle Thompson doesn't exasperate me.
Chapter 5
"Why are you up so early?" Mom asks as she looks up from her phone. Even first thing in the morning, not a strand of her silky straight hair is out of place.
"Kyle graciously offered to teach me how to drive since you and Dad refuse to," I tell her as I grab a bowl out of the cabinet.
Mom sits up straighter in her seat at the kitchen nook, wraps her red, fluffy robe tighter around her body. I can see the swirls of heat rising off her fresh cup of coffee as I mindlessly rifle through the boxes of cereal.
"I noticed he dropped you off last night. What was that about?" She sounds...perturbed. Worried, even.
"We ran into each other in town. He offered to drive me home since it was a long walk up the mountain," I respond as I dump a generous portion of Captain Crunch into the bowl. And it was freezing outside. Probably should give him back his sweatshirt.
"As long as it's just driving lessons," Mom raises her perfectly sculpted eyebrows at me. "That boy has a...reputation, baby. And you, well, you're not ready for someone like him."
"Ew!" I scrunch my face in disgust, pouring milk into the bowl. "I do not like Kyle like that. I'm just using him as a means to an end."
Mom sighs heavily, like she's carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. She sets her phone down. Pulls her reading glasses off, folds them up and lays them beside her cup of coffee. "Have Matt and you made up yet?"
I shove a spoonful of cereal into my mouth as I sit across from her, take my time chewing. "He has a girlfriend now, so he's busy."
"What do you mean he has a girlfriend?"
"Yeah," I nod, "Audra Jenkins. Captain of the Dance Team. Straight-A student. Stunningly gorgeous. Basically, everything I'm not."
"Jenny," Mom says with so much affection it almost makes me cry. "You are just as gorgeous as some dance team captain. And you're smart, too. Don't let a boy make you feel bad about yourself."
I think you're beautiful, Jenny.
Kyle's words from last night replay in my mind, heating my cheeks, sending an odd sensation to my belly. I shove the words and sensations back to some forbidden spot deep inside, determined to forget them.
