Page 138 of Collide
She rests her head on my chest. She’s quiet for so long that I think she’s asleep, but she jerks. “You can’t watch our show without me. We’ll have to figure out a schedule.”
“Can’t we just watch, then discuss it later?”
Her gasp startles me. “That is so sick and twisted. Of course we can’t do that!”
“Okay, okay, we’ll figure out a schedule.”
She sticks out her pinky. “Promise?”
“I promise, Summer.” I curl my pinky around hers.
We grow quiet again as reality sets in. “This sucks,” she says, and I couldn’t agree more. “I’m going to miss you.”
“Me too, but let’s think about now. I’m here.” I pull her closer. “You’re here too, right?”
She nods. “No place I’d rather be.”
I’m all in. Mind, body, and soul, or whatever the fuck that movie Summer made me watch said. Down to my core, I’m hers. “I’ll just have to leave my mark, so you keep coming back for more.”
Because she’s already left hers and it’s right in the center of my chest.
47 | SUMMER
MY PARANOIA ABOUT the break-in doesn’t ebb until we’ve left Connecticut. It’s been eating away at me, but I’ve managed to stuff it somewhere deep in my conscience for our week off school. The ninety-minute drive to Aiden’s grandparents’ house in Providence, Rhode Island, is spent with me changing every song that Aiden suggests. But when I put on one I like, he sings it with me, and I can’t keep the smile off my face even when it starts to hurt my cheeks.
When we pull into the driveway of the beautiful brick house, an emptiness settles in my stomach. The last time I spent spring break with my family was when we watched my dad play, and we skated with him after the game, but now the memory forms a dark pit in my stomach.
When Aiden’s warm hand pulls my attention to him, that pit shrinks. “You okay?”
I nod, and although it doesn’t look like he believes me, he smiles tenderly, kissing my knuckles.
Edith and Eric Crawford glow like Christmas lights when they open their front door. Their love radiates off them like light from a flickering candle, and I feel some of it when Edith squeezes the life out of me.
Since I’m the first girl Aiden’s brought home, they want to know everything about me. An hour after I’ve given my entire autobiography, we head upstairs to get settled.
“Summer, you can stay in the guest room, and Aiden, your old room is just the way you left it.”
Aiden gives his grandma a weird look. “She can stay in my room.”
“You can’t sleep on the couch, bean. Your coach will be upset if I send you to school with back pain.”
He laughs, but she’s not making a joke. “I meant we can stay in my room together,” he explains.
She doesn’t say anything, bewildered. Uh-oh.
“The guest room is perfect,” I interrupt before Aiden can give her an answer.
“Summer,” he starts.
“Seriously, Aiden. Why would you want to sleep on the couch?” My warning look only makes his face screw in confusion.
Edith’s face relaxes into a bright smile. “Great, you two get settled then, and I’ll start on dinner.”
I smack his arm when she’s out of earshot. “Are you crazy?”
He clutches his arm with a wounded look. “For wanting to sleep with my girlfriend? I don’t think so.”
“In your grandparents’ house! I’m trying to make a good impression here, Aiden.”
