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I…
I just don’t like it.
The words crawl up my throat, but I’m almost too scared to think them, let alone say them.He’s mine.
I grind my teeth together.
He has a tan left over from summer that still makes his neck and chest look golden, the veins in his hands and arms course just underneath the skin. His muscles are bigger now because he spent the summer getting ready to face Kade on the field this season.
His fingers are still the same, though—long, like an artist’s.
It makes them good at holding a football too, I guess.
“We’ve slept in the same bed a hundred times and taken baths together,” I laugh under my breath. “I’ve spent more of my waking hours with you than anyone. You’re in all of my history, Hunter.”
“History…” he murmurs. “Yes.”
He says it as if I meant something bad by it.
My heart starts to ache, but he rises, looking down at me. “Things have changed, Dylan. We can’t be friends anymore.”
“Why?” I leap to my feet. “Nothing has changed.”
“Everything has changed!” he snaps. “We’re not kids anymore. When are you going to grow up?”
I recoil like I’m being hammered into the dirt. I’m not grown up? He’s the one who ran away.
I drop my eyes, seeing his jeans, soaked again, and his bare feet on the tile. Why does anything have to change?
I stare at his waist as water spills off his belt that hangs open. The top button of his jeans is open too. I force down the lump in my throat.
I was sixteen the last time I had my arms around his waist. What changed in only a couple of years?
“You want everything to be how it used to be?” he asks. “You think we can still play? Like we used to? Really?”
“Can’t we?”
I still like to climb trees.
“Aren’t we too old?” he asks.
I shake my head. “We can still race bikes. It’s just motorcycles now. Right?”
A faint smile crosses his lips.
“Explore caves?” he presses. “Roller blade? Dive for swim rings? Hide and seek?”
“Build a fort?” I say, starting to smile. “Water balloons?”
See? He’s getting the hang of it again. I’ll remind him of how fun we were together.
But then he takes a step toward me and reaches out, placing one hand on the shower wall and the other on the shower rod, his chest splayed in front of me. My heart thuds hard in my chest.
“Take a bath?” he adds.
My chest caves.Take a bath…
Like we used to.
