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My eyes adjusted to the darkness, and when she looked up at me, clearly tickled to have pulled off a surprise, my whole body lit up from being claimed by her. Chosen. She wasn’t hesitating. She waited until she was solid. I could feel it.

I kissed her for the first time in front of everyone in the dark. My lips moved against hers, opening her mouth for me, my arm locked around her shoulders as people tried to move by us in the dark. She made a sound and I pulled her to me, her hands gripping the bottom of my shirt. When the lights came on and our friends and family whooped and hollered for us, I felt her lips stretch into a smile. I kissed the corner of her mouth, her forehead, and then I pulled her face into me for another hug. I’m in love with you, it said.

“Hurry up, dude,” I hissed. Capture the flag was my favorite game and I was not going to lose to my fucking mom tonight.

“Suck my dick, Will!” Has grunted as he carried me back to base.

“Bro, you’re breathing so hard right now,” I poked. “Do you even lift?”

“I lift your girl all the time. She loves wrapping her legs around me.”

I laughed out loud, and I could tell he was grinning. Has was brutal when he wanted to be. I might’ve gone insane if I’d left still thinking he wanted her that way.

He dropped me unceremoniously on our side, and we immediately turned around to go back for the flag. He was hiding behind a tree like an idiot.

“They will definitely see your wide ass shoulders behind that tree, Has. It’s max ten inches of coverage,” I said. “Go behind the shed! Quick!”

We ran across the grass heads low. For a second I thought he was going to tuck and roll, but he chickened out at the last minute. Almost ate shit.

We pressed our backs to the shed. “It would have been cooler if you’d rolled, man.”

“Fuck, I know. I’m wearing light jeans though. And I’m tryna get laid tonight,” he whispered.

“This is 2013, Has. No one wears light jeans.”

“Uh, have you met, Jaimie? Guy dresses like Carlton on the reg and still looks hotter than sin,” Has grumbled, and fuck if that was not the most accurate description of Jaimie’s style I’d heard so far.

He was looking around the side of the shed when I spied her sneaking through the trees behind us. All by herself.

I tapped Has’s arm and signaled for him to run off the other side, I’ll take care of her. He nodded and did some kind of unnecessary spin move as he took off for the enemy’s camp in the neighbor’s backyard.

I ducked low and curved around where Louisa couldn’t see me. Too easy. I stood up and threw a stick so it landed right next to her. She yelped when she jumped and I went after her. Her eyes were wide and the biggest smile spread across her face when she realized I was chasing her, but she didn’t get far before I tackled her ass in the snow.

She thrashed around, grabbing a handful in each mitten and rubbing it all over my face, and I had to use all of my limbs and my hips to pin her down. Snowflakes in her hair. Cheeks rosy and nose pink from the cold.

I wanted to kiss her, but she’d probably bite.

“Thank you for this,” I said, both of us breathing hard.

She grinned at me wickedly. “Maeve! He’s over here!”

42

Goodbye for Now

Boston, MA

Louisa

He kissed me awake slowly. Eyelids, eyebrows, forehead, lips. I smiled and kept my eyes closed. It must have been 4 AM. I didn’t hear his alarm, but I could feel that he was partially dressed already. His undershirt tucked in. Belt on.

“Want to help me shave?” he whispered, brushing his stubbly jaw against my cheek. A laugh burst out of him when I was instantly awake. We’d slept on the floor under the hammock where we fell when we tried to christen it last night, so I sat up, momentarily tangling in the fabric above me.

“You’d trust me to shave your face?” I asked when I was free, my hair staticky.

“No,” he said. “But I’m willing to risk it. Your pussy’s that good, Iz.”

Iz. A name for me that was just for him. Something to replace ‘sis’ now that Hasan stole it and sex made it awkward in public.