Page 37 of Falling Like Leaves (Bramble Falls #1)

“Then who would drive the truck? You don’t have your license.”

“Jake will drive.”

He nods slowly, thinking. “Yeah, okay. Let’s do it.” He’s trying to be nonchalant about it, but I can read this boy like a book. He’s excited.

A half hour later, we turn right again. The sky has grown dark, and I can no longer hear the rides or the crowds of people from the farm.

“You have no idea where we’re going,” Cooper finally says.

“Not a clue.”

“Ellis,” he groans.

I laugh. “I’m sorry. I was lost when you found me! It’s not like I have a map.”

He sighs. “I know you don’t have a map, but you seemed like you had a plan.”

“I did. Wander until I find my way out.”

“Okay, but now what?”

“Keep wandering until we find our way out?” I suggest.

“We could cut through the corn and just walk straight until we find our way out,” he says. “Even if we end up on the wrong side of the farm, we won’t be stuck in here anymore.”

I peer into the dark cornstalks. “Um, no.”

“It’s a better plan than yours.”

“Except yours is terrifying,” I argue.

“Why? There aren’t any bloodthirsty children in there, I promise,” he says with a laugh.

“There might be coyotes, though. Or bobcats.” I sigh. “I don’t have to worry about coyotes or bobcats in the city.”

“No, you just have to worry about rats.”

I shrug. “Meh, rats are just basically stray cats in New York. I’m used to those.”

“Gross,” he says with a shake of his head. “But okay, if you don’t want to cut through the corn, I think maybe we should just sit tight.”

“Like here? On the ground?”

“You can stand if you want. I’m just saying, Sloane knows you’re in here. She probably already has people looking for you. So we should stay in one place so we’re not accidentally walking away from our rescue team,” he says. “They’re bound to find us eventually.”

“Seems more likely we’ll find the end before they find us.”

He frowns at me. “We’ve both been in here for hours .”

“Fine,” I pout.

Cooper and I sit on the dirt path, cold and enveloped in silence, with our legs stretched out in front of us.

I try not to think about how close his fingers are to mine as we lean back on our hands.

And I try not to stare at the perfect slope of his nose or the curl of his eyelashes, or his full lips as he breathes puffs of warm air.

“Maybe we should keep walking,” I say, desperate for a distraction. “It’s freezing out here.”

He taps my foot with his. “Nope. This is a good plan, even if it’s not your plan.”

I sigh and lie back. If I close my eyes, I can’t stare at him.

The ground is hard and cold, but it doesn’t even matter when he lies back next to me and lifts my arm. I open my eyes and draw my eyebrows together, confused, as he pushes my sleeve up.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

He touches a freckle on my arm, then runs his finger along my skin to the one next to it. Then to the next. “Do you remember when you were here that summer and we figured out we had a matching constellation of freckles?”

I grin at the memory. “I didn’t,” I say, reaching over and tracing the pattern of freckles on his arm. “But now I do, yeah. I remember thinking it was freaking weird.”

He turns his head. “I probably should have, but I didn’t. I thought it meant we were, like, meant to be or something. Like I’d somehow met the love of my life in middle school.”

“ Love , huh?” I whisper.

He grins. “I was fourteen with a lot of feelings.”

“And now?”

His smile falters. He stares at me a moment. “Now I’m almost eighteen with a lot of feelings.”

I sincerely wish a coyote would jump out of the cornstalks and put me out of my misery.

I clear my throat and turn away from him. I can’t do this.

“I hate that you’re going to the Pumpkin Prom with Jake.” His voice is quiet and yet it rattles everything in me awake.

“Well, it’s not like you were going to ask me.”

He pushes my sleeve back down. “I should have.”

I turn away and close my eyes. “You can’t say stuff like that, Cooper. You can’t .”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“Especially when you have Chloe,” I say, looking at him again and growing frustrated.

“I told you Chloe and I aren’t anything,” he says. “I wouldn’t have kissed you if we were.”

“Then what’s going on there? Because it’s not nothing.”

I say it as if I want to know.

I really, really don’t. But I need to.

He sighs. “Chloe and I dated sophomore year for like two weeks. But then she dumped me for Slug.”

I can’t help it—I bark out a laugh. “Shut up. She did not.” I shake my head. “That never happened.”

Slug’s nice and all, but no way.

“It did,” he says with a smile. “But he told her he wouldn’t date her because friends don’t do that to friends. The following week, she wanted to get back together. She said breaking up with me was a lapse in judgment. But I told her no.”

“Why? She obviously really likes you. Maybe it really was just a lapse in judgment.”

The gravity of his gaze nearly paralyzes me. “Because she wasn’t you,” he says. “Because I felt nothing when she broke up with me. Because I figured if she couldn’t destroy me the way you did, what was the point?”

My stomach flips and my heart squeezes and my insides melt. “Oh.”

“It didn’t matter, anyway. Turns out, she was just figuring out she wasn’t into me or Slug—or any guy for that matter.” He hesitates before continuing. “Because she likes girls.”

My eyes widen. “Chloe’s gay?”

Cooper nods. “She’s not really out, though. Only her closest friends know. But she said if I trust you, I could tell you.”

“I won’t say anything,” I promise.

“I know.”

“I don’t understand why she’d be okay with me knowing her secret, though,” I say. “We’re cool but not super close….”

“Because she didn’t want our friendship to scare you off. I haven’t really dated anyone since her, and she said she could tell that you and I liked each other.” He shrugs. “She was afraid you’d think there was more between us than there is.”

I cringe thinking of how jealous I’ve been. She was so right.

Too bad this revelation doesn’t make a difference for Cooper and me.

I turn away from him and stare at the sky, thinking about how unfair it all feels, as Cooper takes my hand in his and interlaces our fingers.

I don’t look at him when I say, “You’re confusing me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m trying to give you what you asked for. I’m trying to pretend it never happened. I’m trying to make my feelings go away, and I’m trying to be friends with you again. But you’re making it all really hard.”

“I’ve regretted that night this entire past week,” he says.

I roll my eyes. “Trust me, I know, Cooper. You don’t need to remind me.”

“No,” he says. “I don’t mean the kiss.” I turn my head toward him.

Our faces are only inches apart when he says, “I mean I’ve regretted saying we couldn’t be anything.

I’ve regretted telling you to forget it happened.

” His Adam’s apple bobs. “I don’t want to regret letting you walk away again, letting you leave, knowing this time could have been different. ”

“So, what are you saying?”

His eyes dart between mine before he closes them, the small space between us vanishing as he leans in and presses his lips to mine in a soft, reluctant kiss.

I reach up with my free hand and run my fingers along his neck until they’re buried deep in his hair.

He stops kissing me, lets go of my hand, and shifts his body so his weight is resting on his elbow as he looks down at me.

I run my thumb over his ear and trace my fingertips along his jaw and over his eyebrow because I simply cannot stop touching him. I might be obsessed. “You said you don’t trust me,” I whisper.

He slowly nods. “Yeah, I know, but this week was torture. Acting like I don’t want you is torture. You’re a flight risk, and I don’t want to end up hurt. But…” His gaze has me in a choke hold as I wait for whatever he’ll say next. “I think you’re a risk worth taking.”

A million sparklers ignite inside me until I think I might combust. But then I remember one not-so-small problem. “What about Jake?”

Cooper’s expression turns worried. “I honestly don’t know. He’ll be crushed. And probably pissed. I feel like shit about it.”

“Same…” I tug on the collar of his hoodie. “But it also sounds like something we can figure out tomorrow.”

He grins, letting me pull him closer, and kisses me again.

His tongue slides along mine, and his weight collapses gently on top of me as he lowers himself.

My hands find the small space where his shirt has ridden up, and they memorize the feel of his warm skin as goose bumps erupt across it.

They travel the ridges of his back muscles, and heat pools in the pit of my belly as his fingertips skim down my ribs.

My back arches of its own accord, pressing me even closer to him; our breaths become ragged as we drown in each other.

Then a bright light hits us.

“What the fuck?” someone says.

My heart stops beating.

Jake.