Page 35 of The Moment Promised

Finn swallows hard, and his eyebrows pinch together. A line forms between them, and I want to rub it away.

“What?” I frown.

“Hm?” He acts clueless.

Finn and I have such a tight bond, unlike anyone else, especially at our age. We’ve spent every day together and we know everything about one another. He’s never judged me a day in my life.

It’s unspoken, but no one we date will ever come close to what we have, and maybe the idea of me spending time with another guy instead of him makes him a little jealous. I know I feel that way when I picture him having a girlfriend.

I just don’t want things to ever change. I want to be in a tiny world where only Finn and I exist.

“The serious face,” I say.

“I don’t have a serious face,” he says, and then crosses his eyes.

I giggle a little, sighing as I fall back onto the cool roof. I stare at the moon, smiling at the face the craters formed over the centuries. “What happens next?” I wonder out loud.

“What do you mean?” Finn lays back like me.

“When we finish high school. Then what?”

“Well, I’m sure we will be packing our stuff to go to college. Saying bye to our families.” He turns his head toward me. “Maybe even each other.”

My stomach sinks and fear creeps in. I turn to him. “That will never happen,” I say to convince myself. “We’re going to the same college.” I roll onto my stomach, glancing down at him.“Well, that is if you can get into Harvard,” I joke. Neither of us are getting into any Ivy League; he knows it, and so do I.

He breaks out into dramatic laughter. I cover his mouth with my hand. “Your parents are sleeping,” I whisper.

He mumbles something beneath my hand. I slowly move it away and widen my eyes in warning.

“We have four years to worry about it. A lot can happen in that much time. We could fall into different cliques and become total strangers.”

I flick his forehead. “That would never happen.” I shake my head. “Who’s going to accept you into their clique?”

He rolls his eyes, but his dimple peeks through his irritated expression.

A new light illuminates the roof, coming from his parents’ bedroom.

“Don’t worry, I’ll start my own clique so you have somewhere to go.” I push off the roof, glancing at the ground.

I bet I could make it down there if I swung from the edge of the roof and landed in the bed of Burt’s truck?—

“You will one thousand percent break your fucking legs,” Finn warns from behind me as if he can read my mind.

A smile breaks out across my face. He knows me too well.

“It’s eleven o clock,” my mom calls from the couch as I walk through the front door. “Hurry up and get to bed before your father sees you.” She holds a glass of red wine, gesturing toward the stairs with it.

I’ve been sneaking out and walking to Finn’s house every day for years, and still, my negligent dad has never noticed.My mom, on the other hand, encourages it. It’s an unspoken agreement between the two of us.

She wants me out of the house, protected from the chaos.

She also wants me happy, and being with Finn makes me happy.

So, instead of locking my window and keeping me here to listen to the constant yelling, she keeps my dad out of my room and looks the other way when I sneak out. Despite all the shit she deals with, she’s a good mom. In an unconventional way.

“I love you.” I give her a tight-lipped smile before walking up the stairs.

She takes a breath, almost as if she’s relieved to hear the words. “I love you too, puffin. Have a good first day tomorrow.”

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