“No, Noya,” Conner breathes a laugh. “It’s because Ireallylike you and want you to be my girlfriend.”
My fingers twitch, and a shallow breath escapes through my parted lips. “Conner, I can’t?—”
“I’m not looking for an answer. What I want is for you not to push me away. Can you at least promise me that?”
“Conner…”
“Hmm?”
I look at him and ask, “Can you kiss me?”
He furrows his brow.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to. I just…I want to erase the memory of Andy kissing me, and I thought that kissing someone I like would help.”
“Noya,” he breathes. His hand cups my face, and he leans down. I close my eyes, and my breath hitches as his lipsbrush against mine. My hands tighten against his shirt, and I press myself closer to him, yearning for his presence. I want nothing more than to dissolve myself into him and forget about everything—my home…last night…all of it. “I’m sorry,” he whispers, and his lips move away from mine, and when I open my eyes, Conner leans forward, pressing his lips against my forehead. “I don’t want our first kiss to be for that reason. So, forgive me.”
I smile, saying, “I think I’m falling for you, Conner.”
29
WITH YOU
Be Somebody [Thousand Foot Krutch]
“I cancelled our dinner plans.After everything that happened last night, it would be too overwhelming. Mum was sad, but I promised she would meet you soon. Do you want me to take you home now? It’s okay if you don’t want to chill with me,” Conner says. “You were like, ‘begone peasant’, earlier today, whenever I tried talking to you.”
I grab the seat belt, drag it across my chest, and push it into the buckle. “I’m fine now.”
Conner examines me before reversing out of the car park. “I’m going to talk to Andy whenever he returns to school.”
“Why?”
“Do you really need to ask?” When I don’t respond and instead tighten my hold on my phone, he says, “I’m just going to talk to him.”
“What if he doesn’t want to talk?”
“He will,” Conner says with a curl of his top lip. “I will not take no for an answer.”
“That’s not what I meant. Andy is temperamental.”
“I know. It’s one reason why I don’t like him.”
“What are the other reasons?”
“Disrupting class whenever he’s bored, flaking on group assignments, smelling like pot all the time, selling pot at school.” Conner shrugs. “It’s an endless list. So, it surprised me when I found out that he was not only your friend but considered a very close friend.”
“Childhood friends,” I say.
“It explains a lot. You’re nothing like him…or anyone, really.”
“You make it sound like I’m an alien.”
“I think you are,” he admits, smirking. “A perfect alien, designed perfectly.”
I scoff, then wince at the sudden pain clutching my stomach from all the bruises. Conner glances at me, then back at the road as the light turns green.
It’s silent for some time. But like all the other times, it’s a pleasant silence. The music plays in the background, a song that Conner seems to repeat sometimes. It’s an alluring song, and whenever Conner sings it, my heart beats faster than humanly possible. Those hazel eyes are full of wonder. As I listen, I know he’s going places I’ll never be able to go. But it makes me happy that at least one of us has a future worth building.