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She rolls her eyes and I kiss her, pushing her book off of her lap and ignoring her feeble protests I slide an arets

I press her back into the pillows, following her carefully, because stretching at the wrong angle still hurts like hell "Are you sure you’re okay to… you know…" she says

Leaning above her, I smile "To what? Kiss and touch you until you throw me down and have your ith hs, and I figure at this point we don’t need to talk any las Most people are fairly uncomplicated, once you know their motivations I was certain one of his was Brooke But even though he stays near her, he watches Emma as well I’d be stupid not to notice And I’ next to each other, waiting to fil just the two of us in the entireBrooke, if he has plans to try with E?" His expression is relaxed, but tension runs between us like a taut wire I wonder whether plucking it would disclose where we stand more clearly

"Good" I nod "E the doctor the other night I was too out of it to be aware of anything"

He half-shrugs "Yeah, I noticed Glad I could help"

I’ to find the condescension I expect froht have plans to bang the girl I intend to hook up with, but I can’t find it Either he’s really good at hiding it, or it’s not there The PA calls us to our places

"Yeah, well, thanks"

"No proble for the first tieddon We’ve discussed auditions at Julliard and studio placee talk, and I wait for hi on his mind He pretends not to notice the one time I say "huh," which seems like a clue Like he’s afraid to upsetokay with you and Reid?" he finally asks as we hit our turnaround point

"Yeah He’s definitely feeling better"

He’s quiet for aokay"

I blink up at hi atthis question, that this is the thing he’s been withholding for twentylately and feel a trace of guilt, even though what Reid and I do is no more his business than what he and Brooke do is reat"

"Oh Okay Good I’ to pry--I just wanted to make sure You know, that you’re okay And you know you can talk to me, if you need to talk, vent, whatever"

"Okay," I say "Thanks" I can’t i to Graham about Reid

Our kiss on my bed has never been h it never happened at all I wish I could forget it as easily as he’s been able to, and most of the tione--but every so often I think about it and God

We’ve also never talked about Reid kissingReid Alexander fans So I have no idea if the reason Graham withdreas because I kissed Reid the next day, or because of Brooke, or because kissing uess in the end it doesn’tfor his advice concerningabout her ain while I’ And after a fewtomorrow and the ht Eoneeach other, usually not twenty-four hours I’ve begun texts and emails to her at least fifty times, I’ve clicked her speed dial number and almost hit talk, but I don’t knohat to say

How do you apologize for living your life?

Reid started short stints of filh his doctor limited him to three hours per dayin his day, and not a lot to fill the daily, plus class work, plus studying for the SAT By Sunday afternoon, I’

"Tellthe SAT?" He stretches, pauses the gae?" I shove thein the middle of his bed, remnants of our rooa us

He takes the pencil from my hand and tosses it onto his bedside table, his brow furrowed "Yeah, but, why?"

Meredith and Brooke asked the same question, with the saher education What reason is there, when our career paths are right in front of us, and time off would result in forfeited film roles and lost momentum? Both of them dismissed Jenna as some sort of oddity because of her acadeh to say that it’s what normal people do? (Probably not, because all of them would ask me why I’d want to be norht?"

"Okay, I’m just curious Seems like a lot of work" He pulls me onto his lap

"Be careful," I say, uneasy, but he only shrugs