Page 18 of The Road to Finding Us

Aspen lets out a big breath of air as a mocking laugh. “Kidnapping? A little dramatic, don’t you think?”

I look at him from the corner of my eye, the hand rubbing my temple partially obstructing his smirking face. “I bet if we look up the definition of kidnapping it would literally say taking someone somewhere against their will.”

“If you don’t want to participate, Gladys and I are happy to drop you off at the next bus station.” The words come out nonchalantly, then he looks over at me and lifts the sunglasses off his face. His straight eyebrows raise, as if he thinks that’s actually a good idea.

“I’m not riding a bus,” I state. My hair falls in my face and—annoyed—I blow out a breath to try to move it.

“Well then, it looks like you’re all out of options, Lily Bear. You need me—and my scenic route.” His green eyes hold nothing but mischief in them as he looks over at me briefly. After getting his point across, he pulls the sunglasses back over his eyes and focuses on the road.

“Let’s get one thing very clear, Aspen. I don’t need you. So, what does this ‘scenic route’ entail?” I inquire, using air quotes.

“You’ll see,” he replies, without explaining further.

10

Lily

Past - Age Nineteen

“Lily, wait,” Aspen says, with what might actually be a pleading tone.

The tone alone stops me in my tracks. Aspen never pleads—he demands, but never pleads.

I stand glued to my spot in front of the door. My brain’s telling him to fuck off, that it doesn’t matter whatever words leave his mouth next. But my stupid heart hopes that maybe we can return to the two people who’d managed to openly communicate on the phone over break. It craves it. So my head loses, and my heart wins.

“What?” I ask dejectedly, turning my body to face him. I lean up against the sliding glass door, staring at Aspen and waiting for him to continue.

I’m caught off guard with the look on his face; normally he has a cocky smirk permanently attached to it. The posture of his body, always straight and confident. Right now, he looks almost unsure. There’s an inward slope of his shoulders that isn’t usually there.

He takes a long breath, looking me dead in the eye with a look I can’t decipher. “I just don’t want—”

The glass door slides across my back, causing me to jump and look toward the door.

“There you are!” Selma explains from behind me. I look over her shoulder to find Maverick standing right behind her. “We’ve been looking all over for you.” She gives me her normal sweet smile, and I try to return it but I’m still on edge from whatever Aspen was about to say.

When I turn to face him, I see his uneasy expression has been completely wiped way. Instead, he has on his typical smirk. He takes the last few steps to where I’m standing, blocking the entrance to the door. He puts his hand on my shoulder as he squeezes through.

“Be careful, Lily,” he warns quietly, giving me a quick glance before pushing all the way through the door. “I’ll see you guys later.” Aspen stops for a moment, acknowledging my brother and Selma. Then, he looks at me one more time before disappearing inside.

I wonder for a moment what he was about to say before Selma opened the door, but then I stop myself. At this point, it doesn’t even matter.

“Going to tell me what that was about?” Selma asks. “You’ve been out here for thirty minutes. Were you talking to Aspen that whole time? I thought you guys hated each other?”

I start walking inside and Selma is right on my heels, being awfully persistent with her questions. For someone who’s normally so quiet, she sure is asking a lot. The party is bustling around us. I’m in the middle of sidestepping a couple making out when Selma starts talking. Maverick was left behind, talking to one of his friends.

“Lily?” she asks again, her small hand resting on my shoulder in comfort. Selma isn’t one to pry, and I know she won’t demand that I tell her anything, but I also don’t want her thinking I was sitting out there so long with Aspen—alone.

“It wasn’t anything, Selm. I went out there to get a breath of fresh air. Blaine came over to talk to me, and he actually admitted that he’s had a thing for me. Did you know that?” I swipe my hands over my jeans, looking to her for an answer.

She gives a short shake of her head.

“Well, anyway,” I continue, “I think Blaine was about to kiss me when Aspen walked up. He got moody for some reason. We’ll never know why, because it’s Aspen. We argued, and then you opened the door. That’s it. Now I’m going to party because my head is freaking spinning.” I grab the nearest drink and then gulp it down fast.

When I make eye contact with Selma again, her jaw is hanging right open as she silently watches me. I use the silence to continue to chug the beer. It tastes bitter on my lips, but I ignore the awful aftertaste. Right now I’m just trying to wipe Aspen’s unreadable look from my mind.

I try to think of Blaine instead.

Blaine Wilcox. I’ve had a crush on him for so long I thought it would never become anything more.

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