Page 138 of Wherever You Are

It’s just…

He obviously didn’t want to kiss me or else he would have asked like he did with hugging, right?

There was nothing standing in his way. No other boys. No school hundreds of miles up north. In fact, we’re closer than we’ve ever been now that we live in the same neighborhood again. Plus, I confessed the biggest secret of all in the limo.

I’m not actually Loren Hale’s cousin. I’m his half-sister.

“Whoa,”Garrison said, but after the shock wore off, he smiled. Not mad that I lied. He was happy that I trusted him with the precious truth.

The opportunity to make a move was right there, wasn’t it? But once that moment passed, awkwardness infiltrated tenfold.

And so the chance at prom came and flew by in May. Now August, we’ve skirted around the dance, but our friendship is solidly intact.

That’s what matters.

But I can’t deny the existence of this weird tension straining the room. I don’t know what to do, so I just look at the first thing that catches my eye.

“Um…” I stammer before nodding to issue #6 where Spider-Man webbed Deadpool’s mouth shut. “Could you hand me that? I haven’t read it yet, and it looks like a good one.”

“Yeah, sure.” He grabs the comic from the stack and passes it over. Our fingers brush, and just as I’m about to pull away, Garrison takes my hand in his.

I drop the comic.

He drops my hand.

Oh God. “Sorry, I—” I have no words. I’m bending down to pick up the comic, and Garrison follows suit, until we’re staring at each other from underneath a long wooden breakroom table that we drug into the storage area, just to sort comics.

“You don’t have to be sorry.” His own apologies skate across his features. “I’msorry…” His nose flares.

We’re both squatting, staring at one another. Unsaid things passing between us.

He shakes his head. “Dammit, I don’t know why this is so hard. It’s never been hard to talk to you.” He rubs a hand through his hair. “But I fucked up.”

“What?” I squeak.

“At prom. I fucked up,” he says. “I should have asked you out then. It should have been prom. Not underneath…” He glances up, and I unfortunately follow suit. Wads of pink, white, and blue gum stick to the bottom of the table.Ew.

But my mind is wrapped around his other words.I should have asked you out then.

We meet each other’s gazes.

My heart thrashes. “What are you saying?”

“Will you go out with me, Willow?” he asks. “And not just as friends. I want to be your boyfriend.”

I didn’t hear him right. Imustbe dreaming. This is about the same time I’d ask a friend to pinch me, but my friend is the one currently asking me out. So there’s that.

“Um…” I stammer again.

Panic ascends his face. “You can say no.”

I definitely do not want to say no. But still, I hesitate.

33BACK THEN – August

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

GARRISON ABBEY