Page 24 of Anytime I Want

“You two are crazy. Over and out.” The walkie talkie screeches in feedback. Josh must’ve turned his off. These are not high quality walkie talkies but they get the job done.

Graham switches his off and jumps up to the balls of his feet, getting ready to run. “Are you ready?”

“10–4, soldier. Ready.”

Graham grins and leans over to give me a kiss on the top of my helmet. “For luck.” He winks and runs away, whooping as loud as possible to draw all attention to himself. I hear thepop popfrom the compressed air of the paintball gun, followed by a yelp.

“Dude!” Graham groans. “Where did you come from? Josh was supposed to be watching for you.” I lean forward slightly to get a better view, definitely showing more of my helmet than I am entirely comfortable with.

“I got Josh out right after he switched off his walkie talkie.” Josie smirks. “Maybe I should’ve told you that I spend a lot of time with my little brother. He’s very into laser tag and paintball. So much so that we have our own gear. And at our old house in New Mexico, we had a lot of land, and my dad set up a small range for us. I never lose.” Josie holds her gun up beside her mouth and blows over the barrel, still half-hiding behind a rainbow-painted bush.

“Hot,” Nathan says, much louder than I imagine he meant to, coming out from his hiding place. My eyes take in the barely recognizable dragon on his chest, and it takes me a second to decode what it is. I glance at Graham and see the slight smile on his lips and the hope in his eyes. He mouthsnumber three.My eyes widen and a smile spreads across my face. Nathan is my dragon. Josie might never lose, but Nathan is easily distracted by her pretty face. I squeeze the trigger, letting three paintballs shoot for good measure. I watch as the gray paint explodes on his chest, one right after the other. Nathan looks down in surprise as Graham jumps up and down, cheering for me. His enthusiasm is contagious, and I can’t help myself from jumping up and cheering right alongside him. I feel a stinging pain in the arm and then two in my stomach. I looked down at the green paint covering my gear. Josie smirks at me across the field and asks, “Where’s a girl get a good slice around here?”

“I think I’m in love,” Nathan croaks, holding a hand over his heart dramatically. Josie looks at him over her shoulder, a big smile on her face.

After we return our guns and gear, we all separate into different cars, me and Graham alone in his truck. I take a minute to try and tame my frizzy waves after wearing a helmet for the last hour. Graham reaches over and tugs on my hand, making me drop my elastic.

“Leave it. I like it down,” he murmurs, never taking his eyes off the road. He starts to run his fingers through my hair, gently tugging at the little inevitable tangles. I close my eyes and allow myself to get lost in the sensation. We pull up to a local mom-and-pop pizza joint a few minutes later, and I open my eyes, slowly rolling my head to make eye contact with Graham.

“Thank you,” I whisper.

“For playing with your hair? Literally any time. Maybe next time not in the truck. The angle was a little awkward, and I am going to be cleaning blond strands up for weeks now.” He smiles at me, making sure I know he is only teasing and not at all upset with the state of his truck.

“No. Well, yes. Thank you for that. But I meant thank you for today. Thank you for encouraging me to slay my dragons. I know you were joking, and it wasn’t an actual dragon, but I liked knowing that you believed I could do it, even though it was just Nathan in a pinny. I like feeling like you believe in me.”

Graham’s eyes soften and he reaches forward, tangling his fingers with mine. “Always. Besides, it was fun. I want to spend all my time with you. And we both know Nate can be a bit of a dragon sometimes. Plus, getting to watch him scream like a little kid is an added bonus.”

I squeeze his hand, and I watch his eyes light up.

“Does this mean I get to hold your hand now?” Graham asks, hope coloring his tone.

I gently pull my hand away from his.“Not yet. You still have nine more items to cross off.”

“Yet? That sounds promising.”

“I think it is, Graham. I thinkyouare.” I smile at him before slowly opening the door and slipping out of the truck into the pizza place parking lot.

“Yet is my new favorite word,” Graham says to himself as the truck door closes. I hug myself and smile, allowing myself to feel it all right now.

Chapter 14

Graham

I follow Julia into the pizza place, the smell of sauce, grease, and cheese making me take a deep inhale.

“I love pizza,” I mumble, almost as an impulse. Julia laughs at me, reaches back and grabs my arm to drag me over to the corner booth our friends are sitting in.

“Finally! What happened to you two?” Chloe asks, once again pumping her eyebrows. Julia shakes her head and laughs.Progress.

“Did you already order? I think since we have to pay, we should get to have the reigning vote here,” I say, grabbing the menu as if I didn’t already know what to get: pepperoni and pineapple with a little bit of ham. I know that a lot of people are anti-pineapple-on-pizza. Julia loves it. And I am pro Julia. All the way.

“We ordered,” Josh says. “Meat lovers, a veggie, and a pepperoni, ham, and pineapple.”

“Yes!” Julia cheers, reaching over to high five Josh. It is only a high five but it should’ve been my high five. I need all the help and credit I can get here. I can tell she is softening to the idea of going out with me. I get that she’s scared, but honestly, I don’t really understand it. She’s known me for years, I’ve always been here, me and Nate get along, our parents are friends, we are next door neighbors. How does all of that spell anything other than success?

“Hey, Graham!” I turn to see a group of girls smiling at me.

“Well, hello, ladies. How’s your day going?”

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