Page 74 of All Your Tomorrows

“Very.”

He laughed, and when he laughed like that, I really believed everything was going to be okay.

CHAPTER 18

“I don’t like not knowing,” Kyler said from the passenger seat of my car the next night.

The beams of my headlights cast a bright glow on the otherwise dark road. “You’ll see,” I said, hoping he enjoyed my plan for us.

“Is it a good surprise or a bad surprise?” he asked.

My eyes jumped between him and the road. I was excited that it was my turn to surprise him. “Good. I hope.” He stared out the window and the closer we got to the destination, I wondered if he had any idea where we were headed.

His head whipped over his shoulder and he peered out the back window.

“What’s wrong?”

“That car’s been behind us the whole way.”

I glanced in my rearview mirror noting the faint headlights from a car at least a hundred yards behind us. “I can assure you. They’re not going where we are.”

He twisted back around and looked at me. “And where was that again?”

I shook my head, enjoying his attempt to get me to reveal the surprise.

My GPS eventually instructed me to turn right up ahead.

“Wait,” Kyler said, his head whipping around.

I laughed.

“Why are we going here?” he asked as the sign for his high school appeared.

“It’s a surprise,” I reminded him, hoping the storm clouds that had moved in held off long enough for me to actually surprise him.

I drove through the front entrance, past the falcon statue in the front of the building. I glanced in my rearview mirror just in time to see that the car that had been behind us did not pull into the school like we had. As I turned into the side parking lot, Kyler’s eyes took in the campus.

“I haven’t been back here since I graduated,” he said.

I cut the engine and looked to him. “Show me around.”

“Really?”

I nodded. “I want to see you in your element.” I pushed open my door and by the time I stepped out, he was already at my side. He took my hand and walked me around the vacant campus pointing out everything from the outdoor cafeteria to the mural outside the art wing. Though darkness had already descended, we walked in no rush at all.

“Do you think we would’ve been friends in high school?” I asked.

“Friends? Yes.”

“You wouldn’t have wanted to date me?”

He contemplated my question. “You were probably too good for me.”

“Nice one,” I teased.

“No, I’m serious. My head was on one thing. I was a stupid guy. I would’ve blown it with you if I tried.”

“And, I wouldn’t have given it up, so there’s that,” I laughed.

---