Page 128 of Don't Let Me Go
Chapter 52
Riley
I can’t believe I just agreed to consider getting back together with Jackson. I must be out of my mind. At the same time, I can’t deny how incredible it feels to hold his hand again. It doesn’t just feel good, it feels right. Not that I’m surprised. Being with him has always felt right. And I’m finding it harder and harder to believe that we’re going to be punished for that feeling.
Even if we are, part of me thinks it might be worth it.
“Aww!” Tala coos as she bounces over to our table. She’s holding an enormous waffle cone loaded with ice cream, pistachios, and whipped cream. “Did it work? Did weParent Trapyou into getting back together?”
I snatch my hand away from Jackson’s and wipe my eyes as the rest of our friends make their way over to us.
“No, we’renotgetting back together,” I announce, jumping up from the bench. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Jackson flinch, so I add, “At least, not right now.”
“Right,” Jackson says, also rising from the table. “We still?.?.?.?uh... we still have some stuff we need to figure out.”
Audrey rolls her eyes. “Ugh, seriously?”
“Look, we really appreciate what you guys are trying to do,” Jackson says. “Riley and I just need more time.”
“How much time?” Duy huffs.
Jackson casts an uncertain glance my way, then puts on a brave smile. “Like Riley said, we’re still figuring that out. In the meantime,though, I should give Riley his space, so I’m gonna go. I’ll order a Lyft to take me home.”
As I’d expected, Jackson’s decision to leave is greeted with cries of protest.
“You can’t go. You just got here,” Tala insists. “You haven’t even ridden any rides.”
“That’s okay,” Jackson answers, already edging toward the exit. “I’ll come back another time.”
“Oh my gosh, don’t be ridiculous,” Duy exclaims. “You already paid fifty bucks to get in. And you were so excited to go on Galaxy Peak! Right, Caleb?”
Caleb looks taken aback. The poor guy clearly has no idea what he’s gotten himself into. I suspect that all he wanted out of this day was to ride some roller coasters. Now here he is, caught up in the messy relationship drama of two guys he barely knows. To his credit, though, he gamely plays his part. “Uh?.?.?.?yeah. You’ve gotta ride at least one ride, man.”
“I don’t want to crash Riley’s special day,” Jackson counters. But Duy is already wrapping a hand around one of his arms and halting his retreat.
“Riley won’t care if you rideoneroller coaster,” they insist. “He doesn’t even have to come with us! It’ll just be you and me. And Caleb, of course! The three of us can go for a spin on Galaxy Peak and then afterward, if you still want, you can go back to your boring life of not hanging out with us and being sad all the time.”
“I can’t—”
“It’ll be super-quick. Come on, Caleb. We’re taking Jackson to the stars!”
Caleb dutifully grabs Jackson’s other arm, then he and Duy proceed to drag Jackson into the bowels of the park.
Releasing a sigh of exasperation, I turn back to Audrey and see a satisfied smirk spread across her face.
“You have to stop,” I tell her.
Audrey arches an eyebrow and licks a dribble of strawberry ice cream from her fingers. Under the hot July sun, her and Tala’s cones are already melting into a sticky mess.
“And you need to get back together with Jackson,” she responds flatly. “You obviously miss each other.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“It fucking is.”
“Riley, maybe if you explained to us what the actual problem is, we could help,” Tala suggests diplomatically. She sits at the picnic table and then gestures for me to do the same.
“You wouldn’t understand,” I sigh as I flop down beside her.
