Page 13 of Choosing Forever
I roll my lips and push the door open behind me just a crack. “Have a great day, Mr. Huntsly. I’m very excited to get to teach Abbie this year.”
“Delaney,” he tries a final time.
“Hopefully, she enjoys her time in my class.”
Turning around, I give him my back and lift my chin. When I step back into the classroom, my smile is not only faker than before, but the pain in my chest is ten times stronger.
I’m not certain of many things, but one thing I’ll never be able to question is whether it’ll get easier to see Darren. If time has proven anything, it’s that no, if anything, it’ll get harder.
5
FOURTEEN YEARS AGO
DARREN
“Areyou sure you didn’t want to go to the party? They’re celebrating you, after all.”
“They’re celebrating the team, Elle. I’m good doing that with you right here.”
Delaney rolls her eyes at me, but I know she likes when I say shit like that. The way she crinkles her nose and rolls her bottom lip between her teeth gives her away. Well, that or her instant blushing. Either-or.
She flicks the back of my hand. “That’s not a very quarterback thing of you to say.”
I let loose a gruff laugh. “And what exactly is a ‘very quarterback’ thing to say?”
“You don’t even like this movie,” she mutters, changing direction.
I drop my legs from where they were cupping her sides and lean back, creating enough distance between us that I can gently spin her around to face me. Sitting in the bed of Brody’s truck at the drive-in, the same way we do every Friday night—football game or not—Delaney’s in her usual place between my legs.Usually, she’ll use this position to say things she knows I won’t like, just so she doesn’t have to see my reaction to them. Tonight, she’s spent more time looking back at me than at the movie playing on the giant projection screen.
It would worry me if I didn’t already have a gut feeling as to why she’s so antsy tonight.
“I don’t. But you do. And I think we both know that I’d watch paint dry as long as you were sitting right here.”
Squeezing my thighs, I keep her locked in place, trapped in my hold. Pink explodes on her cheeks, making the generous splatter of light brown freckles harder to see. I run the pad of my thumb down the bridge of her nose, over my favourite patch of them. I’ve never met another girl who has the same number of freckles as my Delaney does, and I hope I never do. One day, I’ll force her to sit with me while I count each one.
“Next time, you can choose the movie,” she offers.
“We’ll have to break into the projection room, then, so they don’t keep replaying the same five.”
“Oh, is good boy Darren going to do something reckless? For me?” she teases, raising a hand to knock my hat off my head.
She plunks it onto hers, squishing the pretty curls she did for the game tonight. I gather the ends and pull them over her shoulder before cupping the back of her neck. The purple tinsel threaded through her bright blonde hair matches the jacket I tried to set over her shoulders when we first got here. Now, it’s abandoned on the truck bed.
Her long cardigan and straight-legged jeans have her pretty covered already, but I’ve always loved the sight of her in my letterman. I won’t deny that it’s a possessive thing. Fuck, I’d have her wearing my clothes every single day if I thought she’d go for it. No, Delaney likes her comfortable jeans, long skirts, and cardigans.
“I’m not that good of a boy, Elle.”
The corner of her mouth curls. “No? Not according to your perfect attendance and test scores.”
“I’m intelligent beyond my years and motivated. Notgood.”
“What if I like you a little good?Andintelligentandmotivated?”
I curl my fingers in the soft hairs at her nape and guide her close. “If that were the case, I’d tell you that I’m all of those things because of you.”
“Well, then, how lucky am I?”
I’ve asked myself how I got lucky enough to have Delaney Brooks in my life ever since I met her in the third grade. She was reading a book far too advanced for our grade, but I asked her to explain it to me anyway. Then, I begged my parents to get me the rest of the series for Christmas that year and gave them to her. I still remember the fat, wet kiss she laid on my cheek as a thanks.
