Page 31 of The First Play

SIENNA

It’s been five weeks since our first date, and since then, we’ve been on two more really long ones. It’s my turn again next, and I’ve been trying to think of something cool to do. Mom gave me the idea of paintball last time, and we had so much fun. We even brought Noah, Emily, Olivia, and Kyle with us. Mostly to appease Zander’s parents, who seem hell-bent on him not forming any serious attachments with a girl.

Honestly, they act like I’m trying to ruin their son’s life.

Zander was stoked, especially because after the game, I stole him away for a trip into town, where I took him to an observatory and we got to see the rings of Saturn through the telescope, then froze our asses off on a picnic blanket outside, staring up at constellations and rewriting myths and legends to give us the endings we wanted. In our version, Hera didn’t make Hercules lose his mind and kill his family… and Medusa managed to outwit Athena and turnherinto a snake-headed monster instead. My favorite rewrite was my version of Icarus, though, where the boy did get too close to the son, but his father managed to reach him in time, catching him before he fell to his death. They then became world-famous inventors, and according to me, the world can thank them for arcade games, popcorn machines, Nerds and Ferris wheels.

“Because who doesn’t love a good Ferris wheel ride,” I justified. “While eating Nerds, of course.”

Zander stuck out his tongue and made a gagging sound.

“What?” I protested.

“Nerds are gross.”

I gaped at him. “They’re only like the best candy ever. I can’t believe you don’t like Nerds.” I was horrified. They were my go-to and I was shocked that it hadn’t come up in conversation already.

“You eat all the Nerds you want, Sparky, just don’t share them with me.”

“Well, that works out great then.” I lifted my chin in the air. “The more Nerds for me the merrier.”

Zander chuckled in my ear, wrapping his arms around me to keep us warm. My teeth were starting to chatter, but I didn’t care. I would have stayed out under that clear night sky until we were both popsicles. Leaning against Zander’s broad chest was the best.

As were piggyback rides to his car, sitting on his knee in the cafeteria, and making out with him under the bleachers between the last bell and football practice starting.

To say he was late a time or ten… well worth it.

That’s what he says, anyway.

A week after our stargazing epicness, Zander drove me all the way to City of Rocks National Reserve. It took over two hours to get there, and I didn’t mind one little bit. We talked the whole way about everything and nothing.

I also introduced him to Taylor Swift, who really doesn’t need an introduction because she’s like the best artist in the world, and you’d have to be living in a cave without Wi-Fi to not know who she is.

But Zander didn’t reallyknow, you know?

So, I played him all my favorite songs, and even though he tried to tell me she was just okay, I could tell he was into herReputationalbum, and I definitely heard him humming along to “Anti-Hero,” which is the best song off herMidnightsalbum, in my opinion.

While Tay-Tay gave us the perfect soundtrack for our conversation, I learned that Zander loves watching any kinds of sports on TV, especially the Olympic Games—high jump and pole vaulting are his favorite events. I told him I love gymnastics and diving… and that led us on a tangent of Olympics Games stories. By the time we wrapped that up, we decided we have to attend the games live at some point.

I also found out he’s a Broncos fan, which wasn’t hard to guess. Plus, he loves Mexican food, and if he’s having a cheat day, loaded fries are his go-to. My kinda guy. Iloveloaded fries.

We spent the afternoon walking around that national reserve, then made out against a massive boulder for a while. He’s such a good kisser. And I love the way he boxes me in with his arms, his hands on either side of my head, his eyes gazing at me like I’m beautiful. I could have stayed there for the rest of the weekend, his body pressed against mine, his tongue and lips doing insane things to my chest, stirring a yearning low in my belly and heating my body from head to toe.

But then his dad called, and Zander lied to him, saying he was working on an assignment with Noah. He then had to call Noah to cover for him, and I stood there wondering why he wasn’t telling the truth.

Was I really that awful?

When I asked, he mumbled something about his dad not getting it and then got kind of quiet and grumpy. We left only twenty minutes later. The drive back was subdued, and I tried to cheer him up by playing “guess that song” off my Spotify playlist. He got into it for a minute, but his enthusiasm quickly waned, so I shifted to movie quotes and then random trivia questions. He did pretty well, and it only confirmed how meant to be we are. The fact that he knew the answers to so many of my questions is simple proof that we like a lot of the same stuff. If only that had been enough to stop him from going quiet and frowning again.

“Hey, Zander?”

“Yeah?”

“You know you can talk to me about anything, right?”

He glanced my way but wouldn’t hold my gaze.

“I know you find your dad stressful. Is there anything I can do to help?”

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