It’s his turn to shrug. I open my mouth to tell him about the culinary schools I’ve been looking at for after I finish secondary school, but he keeps talking, his eyes shifting away from me.
“My girlfriend, Cat, thinks she’ll go to UNR—that’s the university about an hour from us. It sounds like a good one.”
I stutter over the word in my brain. Girlfriend.Girlfriend? The stutter carries over to my speech when I say, “You—you have a girlfriend?” My attempt at nonchalance fails miserably. If I thought I was jealous a minute ago when he mentioned Rory, it is nothing to how I feel now.
There’s an apology in his eyes. Maybe he can see me turning green with envy.
“Aye, she, uh—she’s a cheerleader.” He rubs the back of his neck, ears going pink.
I snort a laugh. “A cheerleader, huh? Like with pom-poms?” Turns out my defense mechanism right now is pettiness.
“Aye,” he says, sounding defensive. “She asked me out about a month ago.”
I never would’ve pictured him with a cheerleader. That girl Rory, from the paper, sounds more like his type. But what do I know about that anyway? It’s not like he ever talked to me about girls before. It’s always just been us, in this little bubble on Skye, but now…
“Is she your first? Girlfriend, I mean…” I trail off, feeling so stupid. There I was wondering if he’d lean in and kiss me, and he has a girlfriend. Of course he does, look at him!
“Nah. I’ve had a couple,” he says, and swipes a hand through his hair.
“A couple?” I ask, incredulous.
“I mean, it’s high school… well, that’s what they call it at least. I think they just like me for my accent.”
“Who wouldn’t?” I say under my breath, and he smiles like he’s pleased by my assessment. He was never cocky, so this is a new side of him that I haven’t seen before. If he puts this air on in front of all the girls at school, it’s no wonder he’s had multiple girlfriends. But I prefer the real Jamie to this one. My Jamie.
“What about you? Any boyfriends?” He waggles his eyebrows at me and my cheeks heat under his stare.
“Maybe…” I say, turning my face away as it flushes deeper. “I don’t kiss and tell.”
Not that there’s much to tell. There was only one boy, and even though the kissing was frequent, it never made me feel the way my first kiss with Jamie did.
His eyes widen like he’s surprised… or maybe because he doesn’t like to hear I was kissing another boy. I hope it’s the latter; jealousy is better than him thinking there aren’t any boys who’d want to kiss me.
“Sounds like it was a good year for the both of us.” He bumps my shoe with his and I look into the face of my best friend. I nod and force a smile to match his.
But on the inside, my heart sinks as I realize our comfortable contact—the hugs, the hand holding—is a thing of the past for our friendship now. It would be too intimate as just friends, especially now that he has a girlfriend.Cat. Ugh, it’s such a cheerleader name. She’s probably the captain too. I try not to roll my eyes—or cry.
“So, where’s our book of adventures then? We’ve got to make it a great summer as well,” I say with all the confidence I can muster, feeling as if our summers will never be the same now.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Jamie – Thirteen Years Ago
Why didn’t I break up with her before coming to Scotland?I ask myself for the millionth time as I get off the phone with Cat.
I like her—I do—but I don’t miss her between our weekly calls, and that tells me something.
We’ve had three since I arrived. Gran and Grandad only allow me one per week because of the cost, and all she talks about is cheer camp and practice. She never asks me what I’m doing, and though she says she misses me, I’m not sure she really does.
It’s probably better that she’s not asking, considering all my stories revolve around Avi and I spending time together. Every single one.
If I’d broken up with Cat, I know I would’ve kissed Avi that first day on the roof… and every day after. That’s part ofwhy I didn’t. Not because I don’t want to kiss Avi—it’s the opposite, really. Which definitely makes me a shit boyfriend.
I didn’t want to risk ruining what Avi and I have. I love our summers together, and it’s not like we can be girlfriend and boyfriend anyway. We don’t even live on the same continent anymore. Maybe if I’d stayed in Scotland it could’ve been possible, but it will only ever be the summers for us. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if she wanted it to be more and our friendship broke.
But I think about that first kiss more often than I should. Even though I’ve kissed more than my fair share of girls since then, none of them felt as good as thatonewith Avi—and there wasn’t even tongue.
So, instead of filling our time with kissing, we’ve been systematically crossing off adventures from my notebook for the last three weeks. She brought her bike with her, which has given us a lot more freedom. If it’s within biking distance, we’ve done it.
