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I stopped in front of her and cupped her face in one of my hands. God, that face was something else. I had to touch her to see if she was real. The perfection seemed almost impossible. Everyone had physical flaws. I wanted to find hers.
The only interaction I had with West was when I dropped a book while walking down the crowded hallway. Out of nowhere he bent down, stopping traffic to pick it up for me.
Pain came to all of us at some time or another. It was how we learned to cope with it that determined our future.
No one understood. No one saw what I did. No one lived through what I had. I would have talked to them. But there was no one to understand. Keeping quiet is how I survived.”
She hadn’t wanted him to catch me out here with her. But I hadn’t been ready to see her go.
“I just hate being stared at.” He chuckled and moved his fork to get a bite of cake. “Then you shouldn’t be so damn pretty.”
She gave me peace. She was the only thing that had given me peace in a long time.
I saw West again at my locker before last period. He said he hoped I enjoyed my book. Then he brushed the hair off my shoulder before leaving me.
I reached over and took both of his hands in mine. That always seemed to calm him.
His smile was the kind of smile that was so rare, you wanted to keep it. It made you sit around and think of things to do just to get that smile flashed at you.
When his eyes were genuinely in it and he truly meant it, there was nothing that compared to West Ashby’s smile.
I closed my mouth and stared at Maggie. I’d never heard her talk to anyone else. Not even her family. Yet she’d not hesitated to speak to my mother. One more thing about her that made her so incredibly special.
“Maggie’s special,” I told Momma as I brushed my fingers over Maggie’s hand the way she so often did mine.
all the encouragement I needed was in her eyes.
He winked. I hated it when he winked at me. Mostly because I loved it when he winked. I hated that I loved it. Because friends did not get birds in their tummies over winks.
I crawled in bed and lay behind her, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her against my chest. I kept whispering in her ear that I was here. That she was in my arms and I wasn’t leaving her. That she’d be okay.
The panic written across his face was what only a real friend would feel.
I had never been in love, so I had nothing to compare it to, but there was no question in my mind that West Ashby had become the most important person in my life. I was in love with him. I could be whatever it was he needed me to be. Even if that would always be just a friend.
I had Maggie, that was all I needed,
In the face of sorrow and loss, no words could ever be adequate.
would have gone anywhere to get him to smile on a day like today.
thought about taking a shower, but I took a sniff of my shirt. I could smell the faint scent of vanilla. I decided I wouldn’t shower or even change.
“You’re beautiful,” I said breathlessly.
This was going to be my undoing. This girl. She was going to claim me.
“No one has made me feel the way you do, Maggie.”
“Nothing about any moment I’ve spent with you will ever be a regret.”
“God, you’re always so damn pretty,” I said.
His hand cupped my face. I loved when he did that. It made me feel safe. Like his large hands could protect me.
she couldn’t have looked more beautiful.
I’d missed her this afternoon. I always missed her when she wasn’t with me.
She had become my lifeline. I wanted to be hers. I wanted her to feel this way about me, too.
GOOD MORNING, BEAUTIFUL.
He gave me a reason to love life again.
“Just my jersey, Maggie. No one else’s. Ever. I don’t want anyone’s jersey touching you but mine. Keep this one. Wear it any damn time you want, but don’t ever put Brady’s on again.” Oh. Okay. Oh my. I nodded and resisted the urge to wrap my arms around the shirt I was now wearing, and cuddle with it. It smelled like West. I was never going to want to wash it. He grinned. “My girl. My fucking jersey.”
“God, you can’t even stop looking at her,” Raleigh said in a disgusted tone. She was right. I couldn’t.
Maggie’s shoulders shook with silent laughter, and she laid her head on my shoulder as she watched them. And I watched her.
“Fuck that! How the hell am I supposed to ignore her, Brady? Huh? I can’t ignore her. I’m in love with her.”
Yes, you became someone I could lean on, but you also became more than that. I looked forward to hearing your voice, seeing your smile, and, God, listening to you laugh. I love the way you laugh. All of those things became things I loved.
I’m willing to give you all the time you need. But you have to know I am in love with you.”
“Anything,”
“Can we stop it with the sweet shit, please? Y’all aren’t alone,” Brady said. West smirked. I loved that smirk.
I had always been told my future was on the field and I could be somebody great. And I had wanted that. Until I found somebody who needed me. And I realized the only person I wanted to be great for was her.
