Snapping a cracker in half, I taste test three different pastes. “Hummus, aubergine, and I think that’s some sort of pepper dip.”
“Oh, these are stuffed sundried tomatoes,” Sloane says, popping one in her mouth. “Some sort of cream cheese inside.”
“Your mum outdid herself.” I’m not even overselling it. The food is delicious.
“She’ll be very happy to hear that. Also, it will mean you’ll have to come over for dinner. She’ll want to test some more recipes on you.”
“Recipes, plural?”
“Yeah. It’ll be a whole—”
“Event?”
Sloane giggles. “For sure.”
“Then sign me up.”
I’m dying.
Cardiac arrest kind of dying. Sloane has taken me up a fucking mountain, via liplocks and ass swaying. I didn’trealise it was happening until we crested the massive bastard hill, and my heart started beating hard enough to hurt my ears.
I said she was a sapphic witch, and now I know I’m right. My lungs are burning, and I hate it with a fiery passion. Yet I still want to take the last few steps and make it to the summit to collect my reward: one heavy make-out session.
It will be the sweatiest, most breathless in the worst way, make-out ever. But it’s my prize, and by God I will claim it. When I can walk again.
Sloane is standing by the edge of the trail looking out over the vast wilderness, and from the glimpse I got through the sweat dripping in my eyes, it’s pretty amazing.
“Alright over there, Sawyer?”
“Just peachy,” I gasp from the spot where I have collapsed.
Her feet step into my eyeline. Unfurling from my near foetal position, I stretch my back and take in a couple of deep breaths. Her face is one of pure amusement. She stretches out her hand and takes one of my clammy ones.
“Come on. I’ll help you.” She tugs me up and along until we make it to the clearing at the edge. Is now a good time to tell her I hate heights?
“Pretty decent view, Bishop. Not a bad first date.”
She shrugs. “Imagine what I can do with more than a few hours of prep time.”
I whistle low. “You’re setting a high bar. Gonna be hard to top. Although you nearly killed me, so that takes a few points off.”
She turns to me and puts both hands on her hips. “Your lack of muscle and lung capacity did that, babe.”
Ha, she called me babe. That feels really good.
“I’ll give you that.”
We stand there for a while, just taking in our surroundings. Huh. It’s quite nice getting out of the house to see this. Nearly worth the climb.
“This feels good,” I say. Sloane turns to me. “Not the exercise.” I laugh because I can see where her head went. The girl really has her mind on one thing, like all the time. “Being here, with you. Like this.” I hold up our entwined hands.
Her smile is brighter than the sun currently beating down on us. “It is. I’m so pleased we both finally found the ovaries to admit it to each other. I’d have been really bummed to miss out on this before leaving for college.”
Well, isn’t that just a smack to the tit.
“Right.” My smile is tight and I’m struggling to look at her. She’s already seeing the end to something that began a couple of hours ago.
Sloane drops her head. “I just ruined it, didn’t I?” Her sigh is deep and laced with frustration.
