Page 12 (1/2)

"Me too," Ryan murmurs And it is the shift into thatwithin the car Avery suddenly feels that he is breathing electric air, and it is through this air that Ryan is leaning Avery leans into it, too, leans into all of it, and that is when their lips touch for the first ti they’ve already known

This is e don’t ads about them is that they are proof, actual proof, that the other person wants to kiss us

We are desirable We desire

Every kiss that nition at its core

Cooper returns to Starbucks a few minutes before seven-thirty, just in case Antione to Subway for dinner And now he’s finally checking his e Which is a ht now if you knohat’s good for you I will drag you back here myself if I have--"

Cooper hits delete Then he hits delete thirteen more times

We want to shake him We want to tell him e learned from blunt experience: While you have to listen to the first e that e can wear itself out Sense can return

We’re not saying he should go back We know that’s a hard choice But we think he needs to hear the e before he decides

All of the es are frootten to the point that Cooper barely notices this

Julian is four minutes late He looks like his photo on the app, which is a relief Cooper is sure the person and the photo don’t always match Since he’s never actually met someone from online before, he’s had no experience one way or the other He knows he looks like his own photo It’s only the words that are lies

"Hey, there," Julian says Cooper can’t tell if he’s nervous We can tell he is

"Hey," Cooper says back, casual Like he does this all the tio somewhere else? Somewhere less Starbucks?"

"Like where?" Cooper asks It coe

"I don’t know I’ht about that A drink, e?"

"I ht be nineteen, but I’m still up for a drink"

"Do you have an ID?"

"No But we don’t have to go to a bar"

"So where …?" Julian begins Then he gets it "I’o to my place Not … yet"

"Why don’t we stay here for a little while, then? You don’t have to buy anything I’ll just get a latte, and we can talk Okay?"

Like that, Cooper’s taken charge And he gets a charge froh, for now, to balance out his disappointhtmare He’s just more of the same, better probably than Cooper feels he deserves But at least there’s the possibility that the night will go a little differently than it usually does