Page 9 of His Heart

“Why did you ask me to the dance?”

He finished chewing before he answered. “I noticed you when you moved in, and I saw you at school. You were intriguing. I’d wanted to talk to you for a while, I just hadn’t gotten up the courage yet.”

I laughed. “Why would you need courage to talk to me?”

“Well, you’re not very approachable. You’re so quiet and you don’t seem to talk to anyone.”

“I don’t mean to be that way,” I said.

“Yeah, I know that now,” he said. “I should have asked you out a long time ago.”

My cheeks warmed and I was glad for the cover of darkness. “So why the dance?”

“I didn’t plan that or anything. I saw Karina being a bitch to you and it pissed me off. I kept seeing you in the mornings, coming out of your house, or randomly in the halls at school, and there was something about you. I was curious. And I figured that was my chance. If it got Karina off your back, even better.”

“Thanks again for that,” I said.

“Sure. Besides, those girls like Karina, they’re all the same,” he said. “I dated Christy Robertson for a while last year. She was supposed to be like, the girl, you know? The guys were all impressed that I got her. But she was boring. We had absolutely nothing in common—nothing to talk about. I didn’t want to date someone like that again, but it seemed like the girls at our school were all the same. Until you came along.”

“I’m always the different one.”

“That’s a good thing,” he said.

“I guess. It makes things hard, though. I’m such a cliché—the weird, quiet girl who doesn’t talk to anyone, just scribbles in a notebook all the time.”

“You do it well,” he said, a hint of humor in his voice. “Really, you have the whole thing down. Pink and blue streaks in your hair. Ripped jeans. Maybe you should add some black lipstick. Complete the look.”

I laughed. “I don’t think so. Not really my color.”

“What are you always scribbling in those notebooks?” he asked.

“Lots of things, I guess,” I said. “Sometimes just thoughts. Or poems. Things I wish I could say out loud but can’t.”

“Will you read some of it to me?” he asked.

“Oh, I…” I bit my lip. “I don’t know.”

“Come on,” he said. “I showed you my secret spot. I even admitted I come out here to look at the stars. Do you know how badly I’d get my ass kicked if that got out?”

I laughed again, amazed at how easy it was to laugh and smile with him. I’d never been so comfortable with another person. “Okay, fine.”

I jumped down and got my bag out of the cab. My tummy fluttered with nerves as I got back into the bed of the truck.

“I’ve never really read any of this stuff to another person.” I pulled out my journal—just a cheap spiral notebook, small enough to fit in my bag—and flipped through the pages, trying to find something that wouldn’t be mortifying to read out loud.

“Be honest, you have pages and pages of my name with little hearts,” he said.

“You wish,” I said.

He grinned back at me.

“All right. This is just… not really a poem, but kind of. Maybe it could be, I don’t know.” Deep breath. “The air burns my eyes, leaving them dry and gritty. Hurts as it slips past my tongue and into my throat. Don’t they realize? But no. They’re too numb. Dead to the world, their skin slack and lifeless. Their eyes hollow. They feel nothing, while I am left to feel everything. I drown in a sea of emotions I cannot control, but no one else can see. On the outside, I am glass. Smooth. Serene. Inside, I am a storm.”

Hesitating a moment, I kept my eyes on the page, afraid of what I would see when I looked at him. He shifted, moving closer, and put his hand on my knee.

I lifted my chin and he surged in, his lips meeting mine. My eyes fluttered closed as his mouth moved slowly, softly. He cupped my face with his hands and his tongue brushed against my lips. With my heart hammering in my ribs, I shyly met the tip of his tongue with my own. Sparks raced through my body and he pulled me closer. I opened for him and our tongues slid against each other, our mouths warm. I’d never felt anything like it.

Slowly, our lips parted and we paused, our faces close.

---