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‘This is very unnecessary, you know,’ I muttered.

‘I don’t care.’

We hobbled to the bathroom and Brooke positioned me in front of the mirror. Then she dropped her hands.

I kept my eyes closed.

‘Mouse!’ she laughed. ‘Open your eyes.’

‘No.’

‘Please?’

It was thepleasethat did it.

I opened my eyes.

And watched my face in the mirror as my jaw dropped.

She’d cut off alotof hair. She had warned me that she was going to do that, but even so …

Brooke had done what she’d promised, creating a sharp edge along my shoulders that looked, well,edgy. But the color was what threw me, because I wasn’t mousey brown anymore. She’d cut through all the blah with different shades of golden streaks, not that much lighter than my natural color in some places and brighter around my face.

‘What do you think?’ she asked.

I met her eyes in the mirror.

‘Holy shit, Brooke.’

‘Do you hate it?’ She looked genuinely nervous.

‘I don’t hate it. I don’t know … but holy shit.’

She reached up to fuss with the strands of hair falling on my cheek, tucking some of them behind my ear. Then she rested her chin on my shoulder and looked at me in the mirror. My heart thudded in my throat, and I wanted to pull away – it was too much, having her this close to me. It was all too much.

It occurred to me then that if I turned my head to the side even the slightest bit, it’d be the perfect angle to kiss her, and my fight or flight mode flared.

‘Mouse … I don’t think I can call you Mouse anymore.’

‘You can call me Jessie,’ I said absently, still distracted by how close she was.

I reached up to run my fingers through my hair, finding it lighter in weight as well as color.

‘Okay, Jessie,’ Brooke said with a smile.

Maybe this was what Jessie looked like.

I could live with that.

9

Sticky Fingers– Rolling Stones

I wanted to stay in the little town in Wyoming for one more night, but Brooke said no. I was on the verge of getting fired up to argue with her, wanting to linger in the place where I’d finally found Jessie, when she reached out and brushed my hair back, and all my arguments withered up and died on my tongue.

There would be more two-stoplight towns, more cute nature parks, if we looked out for them.

It didn’t feel so much like we were running anymore. It felt like we were just moving.