Page 39 of Falling

“Yes, Wren, I’m sure,” I say, pinning her with a look. “It was just hard. I didn’t know how else to cope with it, and drinking was the easiest option. I’ve cut back now, and I haven’t had a drink in weeks.”

Her eyes are hopeful. “Really?”

“Yeah, really.”

We settle into a rhythm of comfortable silence as pop music blasts out of the speakers, reminding me of a scene from a movie. Except, we’re not screaming and shouting and running around. Instead, we’re lingering around like high schoolers who are too afraid to dance.

The silence between us isn’t uncomfortable like it is with most people. It might be the most peaceful thing I’ve ever encountered.

“Do you want to go find some of your friends?” she asks after a while.

“Do you?”

She sighs. “Not really. I’m bored. I know I didn’t want to be here, but I thought we’d at least witness a fight or something. I could have stayed home and done something fun.”

“Yeah? And what do you do for fun, Wren?”

“Read.”

“And that’s… fun?”

Her entire face lights up, and I swear I’ve only ever seen her get this excited over ink on paper. “The most fun,” she says, “and I can assure you if you threw out all those trashy hockey books and picked up some of my recommendations, you’ll be staying up until three a.m. just to read.”

“Has anyone ever told you how insane you are?”

She frowns. “You have. Twice, actually.”

“And I mean it, princess,” I say, bumping my arm into hers. “You’re insane, but you’re my kind of insane, so it’s okay.”

“Say that word one more time and I’m going to gouge your eyes out.”

I lean down, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. I hover over her, and she shivers. “Insane,” I whisper, extra smooth and extra slow to see what she does. She tilts her face toward mine, and her lips are a breath away. I could kiss her. Ishouldkiss her. I can just imagine how good it would be. How good it would feel for the both of us.

Her lips curve up into a grin, and she laughs.

She bursts out laughing in my face, and I can’t even take the blow to my ego because it’s the hottest sound I’ve ever heard. “You really are stupid,” she wheezes. I just shrug, letting her laugh it out. I can practically see the tension leaving her body, and I’ll happily be the butt of the joke if it gets her to laugh like that.

Her head shoots up from her feet, and something across the pool catches her eye, and she stops laughing.

“What’s wrong?” She looks up at me as if she’s seen a ghost. My heart starts beating rapidly against my chest, the sound roaring in my ears.

“Augustus is here,” she says, turning to me so she’s out of his view. I search over her head, and I spot him. He’s slender and blond, wearing a button-down shirt to a house party. I almost laugh at the sight of him. Wren stands in between my open legs. “Put your hands on me.”

“What?” I , basically gasping for air as I blink at her.

She sighs and grabs my hands to rest on her hips as she snakes hers around my neck. She turns us around so her back is against the wall instead of mine. Her back arches slightly, her front flush against me.

Fuck me.

“Can you see him?” I ask, swallowing. Her face is a few inches below mine now. She looks behind me and nods before looking up at me. My breathing turns shallow when her green eyes drift aimlessly around my face, and I’m trying to compose myself enough to not just go out and kiss her.

“Just pretend you’re whispering in my ear,” she suggests, pulling at the hair on the nape of my neck, playing the doting girlfriend as she looks at me with fucking stars in her eyes. She guides my head until I’m breathing hard on her neck. I use one arm to brace myself on the wall so I don’t crush her with my weight, and she shifts beneath me to get more comfortable.

“What do you want me to say?”

“I don’t know. I don’t care. Just do some—” she pleads, but her words turn into a sigh when I kiss her neck.

It's barely even a kiss. Barely even a touch. My mouth merely skims the soft skin on her neck, but when the goosebumps arise across her, I can't help myself.

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