Page 36 of Falling Too Late

“Th-they were really great about taking me in after the fire.”

“So how is your mom doing?”

“Her mom is still in the hospital.” Alex threw an arm over my shoulder, tucking me into his side. “Wren lived close by, so we would hang out together a lot. Now she’s living with us. She’s my girl.” Alex shrugged nonchalantly. Before Jon could ask more questions, Alex directed his attention to me. “You ready?” He grinned, a mischievous glint in his eye.

His girl?!

The words shocked me. I wasn’t sure how to feel about them. Like he was claiming me, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it.

“Ready for what?” I asked, puzzled, the thoughts still running wild in my head.

I squealed when I realized what he was doing. He ducked down, throwing me over his shoulder, and launched us into the pool together.

The chill of the water washed away the awkward encounter. We both came up for air. Alex’s arms were around me, holding me with ease above the water. Jon stared at us from the edge of the pool, an odd look on his face.

Was he. . .mad?

“You okay?” Alex’s brown eye were on me, our heads ducked close together. “Sorry for the ‘my girl’ thing. I know you don’t want to date anyone, so I just said it so maybe some of the guys will leave you alone.”

I felt my cheeks heat. “Oh. It’s okay. I just don’t know how much you want people to know about the situation.” It wasn’t a new revelation that I felt like I was imposing on them. I watched as water dripped from his hair and onto his shoulders. The beads ran down and caught on his necklace. I reached up, tracing the cord, surprised he was wearing it in the pool.

“Wren, you aren’t a situation.” He moved me into one of his arms, the other treading water to keep us afloat. “You can tell anyone whatever you want. It’s your life. I’m not ashamed of having you with us, and neither is Ma.”

The day went by fast. We played games in the pool like chicken and volleyball, ate hot dogs and hamburgers until we couldn’t move, and had soda and juice.

It was just an overall good day. A day to relax and enjoy the summer.

Alex was still in the pool playing water volleyball with a few other guys. They had brought in a net and put it across the pool. Ilaid out on the lounge chair under a big umbrella, a soda in my hand.??

“You look like you are enjoying yourself.” Jon sat down on Alex’s lounge chair next to mine. He was just in his navy-blue swimming trunks, the water beads falling off him.

“Do I?”

He laughed, shaking the water out of his blond hair. “Yeah. You do.” We both turned our heads looking at Alex.

I found myself enjoying watching Alex. He was competitive, his jaw set, a determined look on his face as he moved through the water to get to the ball.

“You and Alex got close fast.” His eyes were back on me. “Do you like him?”

I was taken off guard by his question. “Of course I like him,” I stated, confused.

He laughed again. “I mean, do you want to date him?”

Date him? I hadn’t thought about it. I liked looking at him. I liked living with him and Gloria.

“The only reason I ask is because my sisterlikeshim,” Jon explained.

“I didn’t know you had a sister.” I tore my eyes away from Alex to look at Jon. He nodded at me.

“Yeah. She’s a year younger than us. Has always had a crush on him.” He looked back to Alex. “I thought they were going to start going out last year. Alex liked her, too, but then he disappeared for a while, and now he’s with you.” His eyes were on me again. “So that’s why I was asking if you liked him. If you do, that’s great. I want my best friend to be happy, but you know, as her older brother, I want to protect my sister from heartbreak.”

No, I didn’t know. I didn’t know what it was like to have a sibling who you wanted to take care of. I barely could take care of myself. I did the best I could with what I had, but my sense of self preservation wasn’t strong.

I had almost curled up and just died.

I had wanted to, but I kept getting back up.

I swallowed hard. “Alex and I are just friends. He doesn’t see me like that.” I was grateful for what Alex said to me earlier, but it felt muddled, like even though he was giving me something to hide behind, I was holding him back from what could be.

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