Page 32 of Our Hearts Knew Better

Those glowing bulbs remained the ones of this town, as I remained under them, alone with Levi for the rest of the summer. . .

Adam’s thumb touching mine brought me back to the sunroof, and he kept us skin to skin, brushing my knuckle for my attention. His eyes were locked to mine, shining and serious as his mouth teased, “Can I get a kiss to hold me until I see you again?”

I froze beneath that look, long enough for him to lean in closer. That and his tone with the question shook me to life with a shaky laugh as I shoved him again, only not as hard, a tease for a tease.

He always said whatever he was thinking. Put on his charm. And he did what he wanted to do.

And I was getting there.

“Am I gross or something?” He laughed out this one, already knowing he was the furthest from gross, but I heard an underlying tension that faded my smile as I shot him a look.

“No!” My jaw bobbed around before I shook my head, my thoughts finally settling on, “Why do you want to kiss me?” I shrugged with small emphasis on myself, stilled again, now with the thought he was going to tell me he liked me.

But I’d forgotten who I was talking to.

“Because you’re not gross,” he said in the most nonchalant way, then he snickered. My face tightened against my own amusement before his grin won me over and softened it out with a snicker back.

“Sonot grosspeople should kiss each other,” I deadpanned.

“That and…I wanna show you what you’re missing,” he added with a light poke to my side. “I promise I’m good at it.”

I poked him back. “Okay, I can’t promise I am.”

“I’d bet you are.”

I chewed my lip on a blush, and when I couldn’t find something to say to that, he shrugged all this off, similar to how he had at the bay.

“You might take a shot and miss it,” Adam told me, like some explanation and advice in one, “but you miss every shot youdon’ttake. And it’s not in my blood to do that.”

He smiled again, that philosophy sprinkling itself over my brain like something intoxicating, a meeting of minds as I smiled right back.

“You gonna be okay without me?” he asked as he walked me back, still less serious as he was full of jokes tonight. But I liked his light. In weight and shine. I could float inside the beam he cast over both of us.

“I think I’ll manage,” I joked back, then stopped cold.

This was my last night with Adam for a few weeks, at least, and when we reached the trellis, I was for sure it would be my last night, period.

My dad’s window was aglow.

The light in me dimmed, my limbs suddenly weighing a ton. All the color ran from my face, as I wanted to do, and my stomach rolled.

I thought Adam said something and I may have hissed at him to go, but I wasn’t sure, when all my focus was on getting up to my room, wishing I had a cannon to just blast me straight there.

My pulse thudded so loudly in my ears I couldn’t hear how loud or how quiet I was being.Quiet, quiet,I willed as I moved as fast as possible up the trellis and had a solid—quiet—both feet on my bedroom floor.

My lungs seized my breath as I did a quick perusal, my air rushing out in a gust, as my dadwasn’twaiting for me on the bed or at the still closed door with his arms crossed and ready to rip into me before everything went silent.

The hall floor creaked and I dove onto my bed, covering my body all the way to my chin and snapping my eyes shut. I was still in my outing clothes and my window was still open, but there was no time to change out and close in. I just prayed he didn’t check in on me, while having the feeling that I didn’t know if I should risk this again.

A worry pressed me in place over my dad possibly moving us again if he found out I’d been living outside these walls.

My mind blanked and my body moved again once I heard theclickof the bathroom door, jumping up to close my window and change into my pajamas.Quiet, quiet.

I was back in bed when the nextclickcame, the next creaks, my eyes snapping shut again.

My dad didn’t check in on me, but he could have. This could’ve been it.

But it wasn’t.

---