AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He shook his head. "No, not with Hannah."
"Ah," I smirked, "can't settle on one girl, can you? Who is it this week? Dina? Clarissa? Beatrice? You shove your tongue down so many girls' throats I'm surprised you don't have a disease."
"You sound jealous, Jenny," he cocked an intrigued eyebrow.
"Ew," I spat out, ripping myself from his embrace. "Disgusting. I wouldn't let you kiss me, not even if my life depended on it."
"Famous last words," he sighed, before lowering his voice, so quiet I could barely hear. "For what its worth, Hannah's hair color is a little lighter than the shade you chose. If that's what you were aiming for."
My mouth dropped open in shock. "You're a jerk."
He walked over to his car, opened the door, winked at me. "See you around, Jenny."
I threw an exasperated hand in the air, "Whatever, jerk," then headed into the Thompson's house definitely not thinking about what it'd be like to kiss Kyle. And I certainly wasn't thinking about how a small interaction with him defused all the anger I was feeling. It was gone. Forgotten. Passed onto his irritating need to notice everything about me, even my hair color.
I leaned back against the closed door, touched my arms where his hands had held me against him. They were still warm from his touch.
I shook my head, trying to understand what had just happened out there, wondering why his arms felt so...good.
The car slows as we stop. I blink back to the present. We're parked in the same place we had that conversation four and a half years earlier. Kyle's hand reaches for mine, his touch still warm and soothing after all these years. I grip his fingers in mine and turn to face him.
He stares straight ahead. At the house. At the place where he has to say goodbye.
"I don't know if I can do this," he reveals.
"We can sit out here as long as you need to," I tell him.
He lets out a small laugh. "We'd eventually run out of gas. The car would get cold. Then we'd freeze to death."
"No we wouldn't," I smile up at him. He tilts his head to look at me. "I have it on good authority that the best way to keep warm in cold places is bare, skin-on-skin contact. Lucky for you, I'd be willing to sacrifice my clothes to keep you warm."
He scrunches his face and shakes his head. "Get over here."
I climb over the center console and slide into his lap, my back brushing against the steering wheel.
His arms wrap around me, like they did the day I ran into him. The difference this time is that I get to enjoy the feel of his body next to mine. I get to comfort him. I get to be this close without worrying it means something it doesn't.
Because I know exactly what it means. I need him just as much as he needs me.
When I peer up, I see a tear slipping down his perfect face. "I really don't know if I can do this."
I cup his cheek, use my thumb to wipe the tear off his clammy skin. "I'll be with you the whole time. I won't leave your side unless you tell me to."
He buries his head into the crook of my neck, pulls me closer, until my body is squished against his. We stay that way for a while, until he's ready.
When we walk into the house, hand-in-hand, Mom's standing there, her face flushed with tears. "You made it."
—
The day passes slowly.
Diane's been sleeping. She opened her eyes the moment Kyle touched her arm earlier this morning, like she had been waiting for him. She gave him a big smile before she succumbed to sleep once again. She hasn't woken up since. We don't know if she will again.
Mom and I are standing over the stove, cooking a huge pot of chicken soup, not that any of us are really hungry. But it gives us something to do while Randy, Kyle and Matt stay by Diane's bedside.
I lean back, slip open the oven to see if the garlic bread is done. It's not, so I close the door, feel a hand on my shoulder.
"Hey," Kyle says to me, exhaustion clouding his handsome features. "I need to lay down. Can you..."
