AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I smile bigger. “Open.”
Dana’s forehead tenses and, for the first time since she’s arrived, my heart drops into my stomach. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea.
However, all those fears disappear when she opens the box and her face alights. “Oh, my god.”
“It’s a–”
“Did you make this yourself?”
I nod.
“Stop it! Drew!” She pulls out the braided bracelet, strands of all sorts of brightly colored thread making an intricate pattern. “Youmadethis?”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t know you made friendship bracelets.”
I had thought about making her something a little fancier. I do metal work, I could have made her a cuff with some gem stones or something else, but I thought that might have been too much given how tenuous everything is. This seemed like a good first step. “Well, you know, growing up with only a mom, I did a lot of things boys don’t normally do. At least when we were kids.”
Dana smiles. “Put it on me, will you?”
She holds her wrist out to me. Delicate, beautiful. Would love to kiss it. Would love to kiss every part of her body. Worship her. Keep her. Make her mine.
Only if that’s what she wants too.
And today, I’m determined to find out if these two years of friendship have set the stage for something much more. Much bigger.
I take the bracelet and wrap it around her wrist carefully. “This isn’t just a gift. It’s sort of a symbol.”
I’m not good with the mushy words. Something Willow didn’t like about me. The reason when things have started getting serious with most anyone, I’ve run the other way.
Not anymore.
“It’s to let you know that no matter what, I’m always your friend. First and foremost. If we grow into more, then I will welcome that…you have no idea how I would welcome that.”
Dana giggles. Good sign.
I tie the ends of the bracelet in a knot. “I will always be here for you. You’re my best friend. And without you the past month, I literally felt like I lost a piece of myself.”
She starts to open her mouth.
“I know you’re going to give me your whole counselor spiel and say that ‘You can’t attach to people and not be open to the possibility of losing them’, or whatever, but–”
“You know me too well.”
I meet her gaze. Her warm brown eyes pull me in, cutting through the cool beach breeze. “Yes. That’s the point. I know you so well. Better than I know myself.”
Her lips part. Perfect to kiss.
That’s not a line I can cross yet.
I swallow. “I want to be with you. I’ve wanted it for a long time, Dana.”
“How long?”
“You really want to know?”
“Yes.”
