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Does he have any clue what he’s asking of me?
“I can’t lose you,” he says. “Be it intentional, or accidental…I just can’t.”
A heavy feeling fills my chest.
But you will lose me… someday, somehow…
It’s inevitable.
His mouth thins into a hard slash, and I wonder if he senses what I’m thinking.
It’s moments like this I can’t help but remember the boy I first met, with the impossibly light blue eyes and the biggest grin.
“Captain America’s my favorite!”
He was my hero that day.
And while I still see glimmers of that strong, fiercely protective boy inside him, I know better than to think he’s not without his weaknesses. Every superhero has their kryptonite.
And Mason’s?
Well, in some ways, I guess you could say we’re cut from the same cloth.
Like flocks to like.
Only the whispers in his head, clawing around his airway, aren’t born of fears of being perceived the wrong way. Whereas I can barely stomach people looking at me sometimes, Mason’s got a touch of the opposite.
He’s terrified of people looking away.
Of being left alone.
Chewing the inside of my lip, I nod, and finally manage to rasp, “I promise.”
And I know, deep down to my core…
I mean it.
If not for me, for him.
Always for him.
Because I might not be a hero like him, but he is and always has been my kryptonite.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
AGE 17, SEPTEMBER
Summer passes like all summers do—much too quickly. And before I know it, senior year has begun. And time suddenly feels as if it’s slipping right through my fingers.
Breathless and naked, Izzy and I lay on our backs, staring up at her plain white ceiling.
From her speakers, I’ve got my iPod synced and our playlist playing on shuffle. The gentle, rhythmic strums of a guitar fill the room as Paramore’s “The Only Exception” kicks on.
Izzy rolls her head toward me, and I do the same. A smile edges up our cheeks, and then I’m leaning forward, softly pressing my lips to hers in a lingering kiss.
Against her mouth, I murmur, “I love you.”
She whispers back, “Love you too.”
