AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You should come to Waldo’s with us after,” Kenzie said. “They make the best milkshakes.”
I tried to catch any hint of nastiness in her American-girl smile, but I couldn’t find it. She seemed genuinely kind. And it made me wonder even more why Diego was with rough-around-the-edges me when I was so different from her. “That sounds fun,” I said at last.
One of the guys called her over to where they stood by the SUV, leaving just Diego and me quietly eating.
I could feel his eyes on me. Immediately, I became self-conscious. Of the way I chewed and how it made my double chin move. Of how my stomach looked so big, especially when sitting down. Of my hair, which was probably a tangled mess at this point.
What did he see in me?
I sat a little straighter and quietly said, “I’m sorry about earlier. I just don’t want to hurt you.”
Diego had lived in one place his entire life. He didn’t know that the more attached you got to a place, to the people in it, the harder it was to leave.
And we always left.
I didn’t know how to stay.
Didn’t know how to even let myself dream about the things Diego had offered. Could I picture myself in a dress at homecoming, letting him spin me around the dance floor? Or what about another surf lesson, our bodies heating even in the cold water? Holding my books in the hallway? Was I that kind of girl? Could I let myself be?
But Diego looked at me for a long moment before saying, “That’s always a risk you take in a relationship, which is why I haven’t dated anyone before you. Believe me when I say I’ve thought this through, and I want to take this risk, with you.”
I bit my lip, trying to deny myself what every single cell in my body wanted. But Diego was far too beautiful, too different. And me? I was far too selfish to turn him down.
Thirty-Three
Diego
I couldn’t wipethis stupid smile from my face. Not on the ride back to the truck. Not while we drove back to Emerson, taking notes for our group project. Not even when we dropped her off and Xander and Kenzie gave me so much crap for the way I looked at her.
They said I looked like a lost puppy dog.
No, I was just happy. Thinking about a girl for the first time in so freaking long. Before I met April, dating seemed like such a drag. I’d watched my sister get her heart broken almost beyond repair. Seen guys on the football team lose their minds over girls. Watched Kenzie struggle after breaking up with her first boyfriend. I wanted no part in it.
Now I knew I just hadn’t found the right person yet—the one who kept my mind spinning and my heart pounding.
Xander dropped Kenzie off at her house, and then I had to get home and prepare for my first meeting with Jacinda Junco. Jittery energy worked its way through my system, reminding me just how much was riding on this meeting.
My entire future.
I finished showering and went upstairs to get my notebook with the questions Birdie said I should ask along with a few of my own. Mom, Adelita, and Marisol worked in tandem in the kitchen, making breakfast burritos for the dance competition tomorrow in a town a couple hours away. I got out of going because I needed to work on homework with April. And I tried not to overthink the fact that we’d be alone in my house.
When Mom saw me at the island with my notebook, she looked up from the stovetop and smiled. “Ready for your meeting?”
I nodded. “Getting there.”
“It’s exciting, right? Learning from someone who’s living their dream. A Latina no less.”
“It is,” I agreed. I hadn’t even thought of the fact that Jacinda was Hispanic as well. Just one more sign that this could work. That I didn’t have to follow the path everyone else did. This day was just getting better and better.
“Did you have fun with your friends?” Mom asked, looking up from the foil sheets she was working with.
My smile gave me away.
“Aha,” she said, grinning back. “Too much fun.”
“Just the right amount.” I gestured at the growing stack of food. “Do you mind if I take one? I’m hungry.”
Adelita huffed from the sitting room couch, where she was playing games on her tablet. “What else is new?”
