Page 46 of Places We've Never Been

CHAPTER 11

I stared at Ty’s friend request on my phone. Paisley was right—I didn’t have to accept it just to be nice. I wasn’t sure why I needed this reminder; I’d often given the same advice to Willow. I yawned and tucked my phone into my pocket. I’d decide in the morning. I slid off my bunk and to the floor, then went to the bathroom door and knocked.

“Ezra, hurry up already. I want to get ready for bed.”

“Don’t be a bathroom bully.”

“Don’t use the wordbullyso casually.”

“My bathroom routine is serious business.” A distinct buzzing sounded through the door.

“Are you texting in there? You’re seriously making me wait so you can text?” I could’ve used the RV park’s public bathrooms, but I’d gotten a whiff of them on our walk back earlier and decided they hadn’t been cleaned enough today.

“I’m washing my face, Norah.”

I growled, then eyed my mom’s closed door. She and Olivia had gone on a walk after dinner and then she’d gone to bed. Ezrahad sworn that his secret had nothing to do with the parents. Mom had said she was fine. And even if they both were lying, Willow was investigating for me. There was nothing more I could do right now except stop letting it distract me from what I should’ve been focusing on.

I grabbed my hoodie and flash cards off the couch and stepped outside. I’d forgotten my shoes, but it didn’t matter; I wasn’t going far. I rounded the back of the RV and climbed the ladder to the roof. Someone had once told me desert stars were amazing and they were right. I lay back and took in the vastness of the sky.

It reminded me of Skyler’s childhood room. He’d painted it a navy blue with bright white stars. Then he’d littered the walls with pages and pages of drawings. The thought of it took me back there. Maybe I was remembering one specific day or maybe it was a combination of several but in my mind I was running to his house, my hair flying behind me as I circled the block.

I’d run through the side gate, like I often did, and through the back door that was always unlocked. I heard the television on in the living room but snuck by it and to the hall, where I opened his bedroom door quietly and stepped inside. I was breathless as I closed the door behind me. Some papers pinned to the wall fluttered with the motion.

Skyler was sketching on his bed and he looked up with my entry, his face brightening with a smile.

“Hey,” he said. “I didn’t hear the doorbell.”

“I didn’t ring the doorbell.” I ran and jumped onto his bed,landing on my knees next to him. “What are you drawing?” I peeked around to look at the pad he held. It was a sketch of his little sister. He was always good at making people look like the actual people. I struggled with that. “That’s awesome.”

“Not yet.” He rubbed at one of the lines, the sides of his hand smudged with pencil. There was even some on his cheek.

I twisted around and pressed my back against the headboard next to him, our shoulders touching. “How do you always shade your drawings so perfectly?”

“It’s not about the shade. It’s about knowing where the light is.” His eyes twinkled as they met mine.

I sat up and shook off the memory, hugging my knees to my chest.

Below me, a figure, a blur of white, streaked through the darkness, running. The dim light of a phone flashlight barely lit a few feet in front of the person. My heart gave a leap, startled at first, but as the figure got closer, I realized it was Skyler. Was he on a night run? Part of his new Skyler ritual, apparently. Just as I was thinking my unfair thoughts, he pointed his phone over his shoulder, lighting up a creature of some sort. He let out a whisper-curse. So did I. What was that?

He made a sharp turn toward the back of our RV and I heard him ascending the ladder with lots of clanking and cursing. When his head didn’t appear over the top of the roofline, I was confused. I crawled across the roof, toward him.

I got to the edge of the RV and peered over. Skyler was frozen, halfway up the ladder, clinging to a rung, his knees almost to his chin. At the bottom of the ladder, staring up at him, wasa…goat? It had the fattest horns I’d ever seen and they curled out of its head, their ends pointing back toward the front.

“What are you doing?” I asked quietly, trying not to scare him or the goat.

I thought Skyler would yelp or jump in surprise, but he just tilted his head up and looked at me. Had he seen me climb up here earlier? “Isn’t it obvious? I’m studying the fauna of the area. This is a bighorn sheep.”

“A sheep? Huh. I thought it was a goat.”

As if insulted by my words, the sheep rammed its head forward, hitting one of its horns against the metal. Skyler scrambled up one more rung.

“Right. Yes, I see that now,” I said.

“What areyoudoing?” he asked like we were in the middle of a perfectly normal conversation.

“Looking at the stars.”

At my words, he adjusted his gaze to the sky. “Wow.”