Page 41 of How Sweet It Is

LEVI BARRETT — SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12

Iscoot in behind Amelia. It’s a tight space, and I have to press up against her back to fit under the blanket, but I don’t mind. Ever since she hugged me this afternoon, I haven’t been able to think about anything but getting close to Amelia again. And now that I’m so close I can smell her, it’s driving me a little crazy.

I think she uses a vanilla-scented shampoo. It smells a little like sugar cookies, and I can’t get enough of it. I scoot in closer to her, and my heart beats out an insane rhythm in my chest.

Skyler crosses her legs. “Now that we have a fort, we should form a secret club.”

“Ooh,” Amelia says. “What should we call it?”

“Hmm,” Skyler says, thinking. “I don’t know.”

“How about Blanketopia?” I say.

Amelia looks at me over her shoulder. “That’s good. I vote for Blanketopia.”

Skyler giggles. “What does it mean?”

“It’s combining the wordblanketwithutopia. Do you know what a utopia is?” Amelia asks Skyler.

She shakes her head. “No.”

“It’s a perfect society, where everything is nice and no one is suffering. It’s often described in literature.”

Skyler looks at her funny.

“It means this fort we built is really cool,” I say, grinning at her.

“Yes!” Skyler claps. “Let’s have a secret meeting.”

“Okay,” Amelia says. “What should we talk about?”

“We can talk about Bluey.” Skyler picks up the flashlight and turns it on. Apparently, it has gotten too dark under our blanket, even though we still have sunlight streaming in from the window. She shines the flashlight around the tent, playing with it.

“What’s Bluey?” Amelia asks me quietly.

“A TV show about a blue dog,” I whisper back to her.

“Ah,” Amelia says. “What’s your favorite episode of ‘Bluey’?”

“I love the one where they go to the forest.” Skyler jumps up and runs out of the fort.

Amelia waits for a moment before she whispers, “Are we done with the fort?”

“We might be,” I whisper in her ear. My thumb grazes her fingers. I didn’t mean to touch her, but it sends zaps of attraction through me, and I don’t move my hand.

Amelia ignores it. “That was a lot of work for a very short playtime. Should we go out?”

I’m enjoying this closeness, so I don’t want to move. “Maybe,” I say, putting my chin on her shoulder.

Amelia looks at me, and I shift so I can stare back at her. Her lips are so close to mine, if I drew any closer, I would be kissing her. The seconds tick by, and she doesn’t move. I don’t move either. I just wait to see if she pulls away from me, but she doesn’t. Is she thinking about what I’m thinking about?

I lean a tiny bit closer to her, my gaze dipping to her lips. She’s not moving away from me. If I close the distance and kissher, would she be upset? I’ve kissed a lot of girls, but Amelia is different. She’s unexpected, and it makes things between us unpredictable. I feel like she’s attracted to me, but she keeps telling me she won’t date me. It’s confusing.

“You’re not being very helpful,” she whispers, breaking the spell I was under. I pull back from her.

“Sorry. I’m distracted.” I back out of the fort we made, and Amelia follows me. I find Skyler under the kitchen table, shining the flashlight around.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

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