Page 76 of If You Stayed

I nudged her arm. “Sorry if I scared you.”

“It’s fine.” She sighed. “A part of me knew you’d get me to go over the cliff.”

“It was your idea, not mine. I just wanted you to have something to cross off your summer bucket list, seeing how you chickened out of the last five tasks.”

“Listen, four-wheelers seem very unsafe, okay?”

“No judgment here.” I bent my knees and rested my arms on top of them.

Kierra leaned against me and rested her head on my shoulder. “I’m just sick of being a loser.”

“Who the hell said you were a loser?”

“Everyone.”

“But—”

“Everyone but you,” she corrected. “I mean, we are about to start senior year, and I have nothing to show for it. I’ve never been kissed. My softball career is in the crapper. My fashion designs probably won’t go anywhere, and I won’t get into the fashion school I want because they want the greats and I’m just okay.”

“Your designs are fucking phenomenal.”

“Don’t make me feel better just because you pushed me off a cliff, Gabriel.”

“I’m not. I think—”

“Gabe.”

“Yes?”

“I’m PMSing. Let me rant.”

I nodded. “Continue.”

She sighed. “My grades aren’t even good. I’m an average student. I’m an average person. I’m just a mid-list human.”

“What’s a mid-list human?”

“You know. The people who are the background characters in other people’s stories. The mediocre ones who never did anything exciting with their lives.”

“You know what? I dream of being mediocre. I want a mediocre life.”

She laughed. “No, you don’t.”

“Yeah, I do. I want a basic life, with basic life achievements.”

“Okay.” She raised her head from my shoulder and turned toward me slightly before laying out her towel. She lay on top of it. “Tell me about your basic dream life.”

I put out my towel beside hers, then lay down, placing my hands behind my head. “All right. First off, I’ll take on a normal job. If I could do something in architecture like my dad, I’d be happy. I’d like to be Midwest successful, not California or New York successful. You know, a decent salary, enough to have a life, but a life no one else would envy. A small house that I’d get on about an acre of land. Would I like it on water? Yeah, but that’s just me being a water sign, as you would say, since you believe in all that zodiac mumbo jumbo. Nothing wild with the house, either. I’d want it to feel warm and inviting. Mansions feel empty to me. Lonely. I want my house to feellike a home. Kind of like my dad did for Mom and me. I want a wraparound porch and rocking chairs so I can come home and complain to my wife about my crappy day at work. Then, we’d plan out our yearly vacation to Florida for us and the kids.”

“That’sverybasic of you.”

I smirked. “Thanks.”

“How many kids?”

“One or two. Nothing too wild, otherwise we’ll never make it to Disney without them draining my bank account for Mickey ears. What about you? What’s your dream?”

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