Page 10 of Versions Of Us

“I just realised that if I volunteer at the helpline, I’m going to have literally no energy left for anything. But I know how rare these opportunities are and there’s no way I’m going to pass on it.” I choose to let my worries go and beam up at Chase. “Where do I sign up?”

Chapter 4

HENLEY

Ilay back on the large flat rock, one arm curled behind my head, the other resting on its cool, smooth surface. We had our first kiss here. Right on this slab of stone. Barely seventeen years old. I didn’t know a thing about love, but I think some part of me knew, even then, that my life was about to change forever.

I watch as a seagull perches on the jetty, a steady stream of water flowing beneath its rickety wooden beams. We had our first real fight on that jetty. I don’t remember what it was about. Something irrelevant probably. Or at least that’s how I choose to see it now.

And that tyre swing over there? I’d wound up in the emergency room after attempting to do a backflip off of it, desperate to impress Kristen, only to end up with twelve stitches in my forehead.

This place upon the riverbank with its overgrown weeds and the giant oak tree that bends overhead, sheltering us from the hot summer sun.

It’s ours.

It will always be ours.

Kristen sits cross-legged beside me, a textbook in hand. She’s always had her head in a book, her thirst for knowledge a force to be reckoned with. We’re polar opposites in that way. She curls her bottom lip between her teeth, and I swear it’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.

My eyes have trailed their way all over Kristen, committed every inch of her to memory, but right now it’s as though I’m seeing her for the first time.

Her skin glowing in the sunshine, a scattering of tiny freckles barely visible across her nose and cheeks. The way the light hits her long, dark hair drawing red highlights from the strands like fiery embers.

She looks up from her book, catches me staring. I suck in a quick breath as her hazel eyes give me whiplash, tones of amber, chestnut, and green framed by dark lashes. Her eyebrows knit together and the left side of her mouth twitches in curiosity.

“What’s up with you?” she asks me. “What are you thinking about?”

I pull myself up into a sitting position and rest my elbows on my knees. Usually, it’s annoying when girls ask that question. Like, you feel forced to tell them that you’re thinking about them when you aren’t.

But lately I’m always thinking about Kristen.

About how I want to give her everything. Give her more than I’m capable of giving.

This time, I’m thinking about how I don’t want to spend my life without her. About how every fight we’ve ever had was just a waste of energy and how we’ll never be able to get back that time. About what an idiot I was when I hooked up with Jenny Stevens while we were taking a break, because there’s no way any other woman could ever live up to the likes of Kristen Riley.

And I wonder whether I’ll ever be enough for this amazing human with her big dreams and crazy ambitions. I don’t tell her all of this though. I simply say, “You.”

“Yeah, right.” She shakes her head disbelievingly and I topple sideways slightly as she shoves me in the shoulder.

That’s the other thing about Kristen. She can’t see how amazing she is. Could never believe that anyone’s thoughts could be solely fixated on her alone. She fails to see her effortless beauty and the joy she brings to the lives of everyone around her. She’s selfless, pure light.

I’m sure it probably has everything to do with the fact that our two best friends have decided to tie the knot, but it dawns on me right now that I’d happily spend my life trying to make her understand.

And it cuts me like a knife through the chest remembering that not so long ago I could have lost her. I hadn’t been there the night of the fire, when she’d almost been taken from me forever. She senses the tension in my body, looks over at me with concern.

“What’s wrong?”

I shake the thought away. “Nothing. I’m just happy to be here with you.” I lean forward, my nose grazing along the soft curve of her jaw. She hums softly then leans into me, turning slightly until her lips softly brush mine. I bring my hand to the back of her neck, her hair sliding through my fingers like silk. I murmur into her mouth. “I don’t want to lose you.”

“You won’t.”

Her lips move over mine, slow and light, but I need more.

Need her.

I pull her into my lap and wrap my other arm around her lower back, her sun-kissed skin warm on my palm. When I’m with Kristen the rest of the world doesn’t matter. It’s only us.

She kisses me again and then draws away, leaving her arms still laced around my neck. “Hey, guess what?”

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