Page 1 of Jake and Conner

Prologue

Age 15

"Jake?"

"Yeah?" I glanced down at Conner, who was sitting with his back against the large oak tree in the park while I was perched on one of the bigger branches above him. It was a warm summer day and part of me wanted to close my eyes, enjoy the light breeze, and doze off. I might have done just that too, if Conner hadn't been with me.

Watching Conner from up here was more interesting than napping. He had a book in his lap, his eyes squinting slightly against the sun that illuminated his ginger hair in a way that made the individual strands glow as if they were on fire.

"I was wondering..." he started, then stopped. "Come down here."

I scampered down the tree and came to stand before Conner with a swift bow. "How might I be of service?"

He laughed. "Stop that."

"Okay." I plopped down on the ground beside him. "What did you want to ask?"

"Um..." Conner's hand dug into the grass around us. Then suddenly he stopped hesitating and looked straight at me. "Are we a couple now?"

Of all the questions he could have asked, I hadn't seenthatone coming.

"We've kissed a few times now," Conner went on, "and we're always holding hands, so... I don't know. Maybe you don't want to be in a relationship, but--"

I held my hand up to stop him. "Why would you think that?"

"Someone at school asked if I had a boyfriend or girlfriend."

"No, not that," I said, even while I made a mental note to figure out who had asked him that. "Why would you think I don't want to be in a relationship?"

Conner tilted his head. "Do you want to be?"

He looked so adorable in that moment, confusion and hope mixing on his face, that I was tempted to just kiss him instead of responding to his question. But it would have been mean to keep him in suspense. "I don't mind being in a relationship if it's with you."

"Really?"

"Of course, silly."

"I'm not silly," he protested. "If anything, you're the silly one."

I snorted. "Are you calling me silly for wanting to be with you?"

"No, you're just silly in general," Conner stated as if it was a matter of fact.

He was probably right about that too. I often felt very silly compared to Conner. I didn't mind, though, not as long as my silliness made him laugh, and as long as it allowed me to do things like…

Struck by a bolt of inspiration, I climbed on to the lowest branch of the tree and hooked my knees around it so I could let myself fall back and stare at Conner upside-down. "Too silly for you?" I asked.

Conner shook his head at me, but not without a chuckle. "What are you doing?"

"Spiderman-kiss?" I suggested.

"What?"

"If you want to be a couple, kiss me?"

Conner did that thing where healmostrolled his eyes but didn't. "You really are silly, you know?" he said, but I only grinned because he was coming closer and then he kissed me.

I decided then and there that one day, I was gonna marry that boy.