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"They won’t," I whispered "I was thinking…I know this is going to sound so corny, but…if there’s one good thing that cao through it all again--" Tears prickedas it meant I’d met you"
"You really think that?" Liaainst my hair "’Cause, frankly, the way I see it, you and od-awful ca story of us"
Liaain and turned to fully face h another boring, hot July, and working part-time at an ice cream parlor Naturally, you’re completely oblivious to the fact that all of the boys froh school who visit daily are more interested in you than the thirty-one flavors You’re focused on school and all your dozens of clubs, because you want to go to a good college and save the world And just when you think you’re going to die if you have to take another practice SAT, your dad asks if you want to go visit your grandainst his chest "What about you?"
"Me?" Lia a strand of hair behind , hot suoing off to soht add, old naton Meriwether IV--but he’s not part of this story, not yet" His fingers curled around , even as his voice was steady "To celebrate, Moinia Beach for a week We’re only there for a day when I start catching gli around town, her nose stuck in a book, earbuds in and blasting et to talk to her
"Then, as our friend Fate would have it, on our very last day at the beach I spot her You I’ame with Harry, but it feels like everyone else disappears You’re walking toward reen dress, and I someho that it matches your eyes And then, because, let’s face it, I’e to volley the ball right into your face"
"Ouch," I said with a light laugh "Sounds painful"
"Well, you can probably guess how I’d react to that situation I offer to carry you to the lifeguard station, but you look like you want to estion Eventually, thanks tocharm and wit--and because I’m so pathetic you take pity onme how you work in an ice cream shop in Salem, and how frustrated you feel that you still have two years before college And soet your e-mail or screen name or maybe, if I’o to college and you go back to Sale, and sos to say and just stop talking and listen to one another breathing until one of us falls asleep--"
"--and Chubs reed "And your dad hates hter, but still lets me visit froirl named Suzume, who lives a few cities away--"
"--but who’s the coolest little girl on the planet," I e to squeeze out
"Yup," Lia?"
By then, I couldn’t help ers against my eyes
I had to do it now, or I never would We couldn’t hide up here forever They could change theiras quickly as they had the first tibeside e of the bed, a concerned look on his face For a moment I was terrified that he knehat I was about to do
He tilted his head to the side, a s up the corner of his lips I tried to s apart "What?"
When they brought us to the ca They stripped away our friends and faot to keep were our memories, and noas about to take those fro to finish the story"
I felt the trickle at the back of my mind and let it turn into a roar And when I kissed hi inside of hishis hand had been
I felt him jerk back, heard hiet away I pulled myself from his mind, day by day, piece by piece, h hie unwinding sensation, one I had never felt before, or nized until that moment
The problem of Chubs rose in the back of my mind, and I had a split-second to make a decision If he was alive--and he had to be, there was no alternative forhiet hi
I would take care of Chubs I would be the one to help hiue the slip There was no reason why Liam couldn’t think that his friend had made it home to his parents; no reason he needed another distraction fro home hily memory…
And then I was out of air and out of time The door behind me opened and I pulled away fro on his knees, his eyes shut tight Cate looked back and forth between us, her brows drawing together I stood and ht blue eyes opened, and he was seeingRuby
"What happened?" he asked, looking between Cate and me He reached up to touch his face, which was still swollen and battered