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CHAPTER TWELVE
Then
Misa Tanaka-Randall’s thirteenth birthday. Seven minutes in heaven.
Cool air. The scent of soil and sawdust. Light creeping through cracks in the tin roof like liquid silver. The shed walls were thick enough to muffle outside voices. It was too dark to read Lucas’s expression — all I could see was his silhouette. But I could feel the heat of him.
My heart pounded. I asked him, “Can you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
“My heartbeat.” I laughed. “I’m nervous. How weird is that? I’m here with you and I’m still nervous.”
He reached for me, and I startled. Then I realised he was pressing his fingers against the inside of my wrist, searching for my pulse.
The feeling of his skin against mine sent sparks tingling over my body. That was the first time I realised how much I craved touch as a teenager.
“Is it fast?” I asked.
“Mm.” He let go. “Feel mine.”
I reached out blindly for him, and he wrapped his hand around mine and directed me to his neck, to the soft part under his jaw.
Everything was silent. I couldn’t hear anything, but I could feel his heartbeat under my fingertips, the vibration thudding throughout my body. His pulse was strong. And it was rabbit fast.
“Why is your heart beating so fast?” I asked.
“Because I’m nervous. And excited,” he said, voice low. “Why is yours?”
I stepped back, pulling my hand away. “I don’t know. I’ve never done anything like this before.”
“Have you ever thought about kissing before?”
“‘Course,” I said. “That’s what you do in high school. Have you?”
He shifted. “Maybe.”
“You could’ve kissed Joan.”
“I don’t want to kiss Joan.”
“I know. That’s why you moved.” I laughed. “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.” I moved around the shed and dragged my hand across the walls, tired of staying in one place. “I would’ve kissed her, though. Now, I just have to hope one of the other girls’ spins lands on me. Otherwise, I won’t get my first kiss and that’ll be so sad.”
Lucas was quiet a long time. “What if a boy’s spin landed on you? Would you kiss him?”
The question made me turn red, and I was grateful it was too dark for Lucas to see. “Probably not. Unless he was as cute as one of the girls. And if he smelled as nice.”
“What do you mean?”
“Haven’t you noticed? The girls smell nice. Like flowers, and…I don’t know what else. And they have soft-looking lips. I want to kiss soft lips like that.”
Lucas raised one hand and touched his lips. He didn’t say anything for a long time. I looked around the shadows of the shed, wondering how many minutes had passed. Surely, we were close to seven minutes.
I picked a screwdriver off the wall and spun it around in my hand. I put it back and took down a wrench.
“Charlie?” Lucas asked from behind me.
“Yeah?” I stuck a finger between the jaws of the wrench, then returned it to the wall. After that, I pulled off a saw and touched the teeth of it ever so carefully.
