Him by Carey Heywood (reading strategies book .txt) 📕

"I'm comfy."

My eyebrows come together as I glare at him. "Will, you can't stay in here when I take a shower."

"Why not? I used to do it all the time."

"We were friends then." I snap.

He chews on the corner of his bottom lip then stands, walking over to me, pulling me to his chest. "You are still such a punk."

I hate how wonderful my traitorous body feels in his arms. All I want to do is wrap my arms around his neck and kiss the smirk off his face. Instead, in the spirit of self-preservation, I kick his shin. He drops his arms and allows me to push him out the door. I lock it behind him before leaning against it and sliding to the floor. I pluck at the weave of the carpet next to me. What am I going to do? He’s a groomsman. There goes pretending like he doesn’t exist. Coming home had been a bad idea. It is much easier to pretend like he never broke my heart if I don’t have to see him.

I pull my phone out of my pocket and send Sawyer a recap text. I have to grin when I see her picture flashing on my phone moments later.

I don’t even say hello. "That's right. On my fucking plane."

"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit."

I can picture her pacing.

"And he's the best man?"

I groan my response.

"Aw, honey. What are you going to do?"

"I have no fucking clue."

Chapter 6

Past

I stare at my reflection in the mirror. He’s single. Last week, Will Price had finally broken up with Jessica Burton. All of these years I had pined over him. Now is my chance to tell him how I feel. We had been friends since we met in Mrs. Hall's English class in seventh grade. Will had never seen me as anything other than a friend. He’s the cutest guy in our class. All of the girls want to go out with him, but he had been dating Jessica our entire senior year. I kind of hate her. She’s beautiful, her parents are rich, and everyone loves her. Or fears her. Same difference.

I am not beautiful, I’m cute. I don’t dress for attention like a lot of the girls at my school for a couple reasons. I am shy, and my parents didn’t have a ton of extra money. We do alright. There are kids who are worse off. You just won’t see me wearing designer anything because of it. I do have some cute stuff I bought myself, but I’m mainly a t-shirt and jeans girl. I put on some tinted lip gloss, smiling to make sure there isn’t any on my teeth. It might sound silly, but I am obsessed with my teeth. I got braces later than most of the kids in my class. My parents just had not been able to afford them earlier. I had also recently gotten contacts when my mom's health insurance changed to include a vision plan.

It is the first day of spring break. Will is picking me up, and I won’t have to deal with Jessica anymore. It is opening day for the amusement waterpark. Since it’s spring break, most of the kids at our school are going. I have my very first bikini on under my tank top and cut offs. I throw a towel, some sunscreen, my wallet, and cell phone in a small pull-close backpack and run outside when I hear Will honk, only to turn around and run back inside for my keys and sunglasses.

He’s shaking his head at me as I climb into his Jetta. "Got everything, Miller Lite?"

I punch his arm. "Shut up."

"Someday I'm going to pick you up, and you will have everything you need the first time."

I roll my eyes and put on my sunglasses before pulling my hair up into a ponytail.

"Alright, William. Whatcha waiting for?"

He gives me a strange look before shifting to reverse and backing out of my driveway. He hates it when I called him William.

"Can I open the sunroof?"

He laughs, nodding. I don’t know why, but I love pressing the button.

"Are we picking up anyone else?"

"Nope. You’re stuck with me. I expect you to be entertaining the whole drive."

I lean my seat back and put my feet up on the front of the glove box. "God, too much pressure. Just put on some music."

"Actually." He reaches over, pushes my feet down, and opens the glove box, pulling out a CD before shutting it. "My dad got me something to practice my Italian."

He pops the CD in as I put my feet back up. Italy. I don’t even want to think about it. His mother's family is originally from Naples. She grew up in the States but goes back once a year to visit family. This year, Will and his dad are going with. They will be gone for a whole month. The CD is an Italian basics language course.

“Hello. Ciao. Hello. Ciao. How are you? Come stai? How are you? Come stai?”

"Do we have to listen to this?" I groan.

He gives me a lopsided grin. "You're just pissed because you're going to miss me."

"Like a hole in the head," I grumble, looking out the window. I don’t want to look at him in that moment because he’s right. I am kind of devastated he’s going away.

He puts his hand on my knee and shakes it. I bite my lip at the contact. "It's still months away."

The rest of the drive, we repeat common Italian phrases. I try to ignore how hot Will sounds when he rolls his r's. When we get to the park, we head straight for the Z section of the parking lot. This is where everyone is supposed to be meeting up. When we get out, I can’t help but notice Jessica three cars over, standing really close to Kyle