AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I can’t put my finger on it. There’s just something about her that makes me think we’ve met before.
And when a yelled, “Eliza!” rings out, I figure out why.
* * *
It should be a criminal offense for a man to simultaneously look so stressed yet sofine. Artfully mussed hair escaping from a loose braid. Furrowed brows I have the urge to call tortured. A white dress shirt with the top few buttons undone to reveal the dip of his throat and a hint of collarbone, the collar rumpled like he spent the day tugging at it.
Drooling in a Walmart. Oh, how far I’ve fallen.
“Luna,” Jackson breathes my name like it’s both a strain and a relief. He looks at me the same way, doing a quick yet thorough scan that makes me wish I hadn’t scampered out the door in fuzzy slippers and my best attempt at a cartoon robber costume. “Hi.”
“Hi, Jackson.” God, what is it with him looking surprised every time I say his name? I can’t tell if he assumes me to be forgetful or himself to be so unmemorable. When I glance at the girl beside me, I find her wearing just as funny an expression. “Eliza, is it?”
Jackson’s little sister—there’s no way that’s not his sister, they’re practically identical—nods as she looks between her brother and I. “You know each other?”
“Luna goes to Sun Valley, too.”
And I occasionally need to be scraped off bathroom floors.
Figured that bonding experience would promote a girl to ‘friend’ but apparently not.
“Really?” Eliza hums, and Jackson cringes. He grips her by the shoulders and starts to steer her away, to say goodbye, but she slips his grasp easily. “Why do you have so many eggs?”
I follow her gaze to the admittedly questionable contents of my basket. “I’m bulking.”
Both Jackson siblings arch a brow that so clearly screams ‘bullshit.’ “And the spray paint?”
“Art project.”
“Silly string?”
I wince. “Plausible deniability, kiddo”
“But-”
“Hey, why don’t you go find the others?” When Eliza whines at the command weakly disguised as a suggestion, Jackson shoves her gently down the aisle. “I’ll be right behind you.”
Reluctantly, she slopes off, waving goodbye with a crooked smile so similar to her brother’s, it’s a little scary. “She’s cute,” I start to say but the frown on Jackson’s face cuts me off. “What?”
“Are you okay?”
My eyes narrow, an instinctive reaction to my least favorite question. “Yes.”
“You look a little…” He dithers on a suitable descriptor, and I prepare myself for one bordering on an insult. You know; unhinged, unbalanced, bat-shit. Things every girl loves to be called. “Upset.”
Huh.
Okay.
Pleasantly surprising but still, I wave him off dismissively whilst making a second attempt at snatching those Cheetos. “I’m good.”
“You’re shaking.”
A single glance at my outstretched hand proves Jackson’s quiet observation correct.
Crap.
Sucking in a deep breath, I drag my palm along a legging-clad thigh. “I’m fine.”
