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"Tyler, I’ htwell, you knowI thought you were your brother And I thought ouldbe together still" It was so ht it would be "But things are over between hied "I know I don’t remember where I was all that time, but now that I’m back I feel so different I’m not sure what it is about you You were just a kid" My voice trailed away as I frowned, trying to find a way to explain "It’s kind of like when Montag from Fahrenheit 451 asks Clarisse why it feels like he’s known her for so many years, and she says, ‘Because I like you, and I don’t want anything from you And because we know each other’ It’s the sa wheel His green eyes--ones that had once reminded me of Austin’s but were now so obviously not like Austin’s that I couldn’t ilancedback Whatever I’d felt for Austin really was in the past

Soed to ed here, in this weird, unfamiliar world I’d been dropped into He was the only person I could count on

He was my here and now

His voice was decisive when he spoke "I’ he’s a dick or anything, because he’s still my brother But it was a dickhis hand fro me so close I could smell the toothpaste on his breath "You deserve better than that, Kyra" And just when I thought he was going to do it, finally kiss ht not want anything frole second think I don’t want so from him Probably more than I should

When his mouth fell on my forehead, my eyes closed while I waited for the explosion of butterflies in my stomach to settle down, but it never happened They kept thrashing, for as long as he stayed there, which was forever, his lips pressed againstme When he finally drew back, I was convinced there would be a rinned, and then winked ataround here? Because I think it’s ti Like who the hell’s been dredging up all this past crap, and why it’s so important that you remember what happened"

I wanted to tell him no, that I’d way rather stay here and "ht It was time to confide in someone In him

I waited a fewhad returned to nor to be while the feel of his lips still blistered h he didn’t press hway We’d drive the other way, the way one--on Chuckanut Drive--on our way back I wanted to retrace our steps to the T, and ht because of road construction on the southbound lanes of the interstate

Tyler’s car slid evenly, smoothly over the pave him surreptitiously "Remember the day I came back, when you said I didn’t look any older?"

The corners of his mouth ticked up, but he kept his eyes on the road "Yeah"

Now that I’d started, I wasn’t sure exactly where I was going with this I shifted and fidgeted withit over ain "Didn’t you think it eird that I’m supposed to be twenty-one, but I still look the same?"

This time he turned his head to look at me "What do you mean ‘supposed to be’? If you’re worried that I think you’re too old for aze back to the road, but he was scowling now "It’s not a big deal, Kyra Really" His lazy sar thing you’ve got goin’ on"

Ohto be serious, he was ridiculous "Uh, no That’s not it at all And I’ around it, and tired of pretending to be so I wasn’t This, all of it, would either be better or a thousand times worse if I just spit it out already "I’ht, and even if I wanted to--which I totally and completely did--I couldn’t take it back now

Tyler sounded far more reasonable when he responded than I had when I’d blurted outabout, Kyra? You’re the sae as Austin"

My throat felt scratchy, and I tried to clear it "I don’t think so," I admitted "At first I didn’t believe it either It was the dentist who saw it first, when I went in to get my tooth fixed He looked at ht before I disappeared--five years ago He told my parents they were the sa before he could stopto do this or completely chicken out Either way I was in too deep, and I’d co like a lunatic I planned to at least have my say before Tyler walked away and never looked back "But it wasn’t just that There were other things too Things no one else would have noticed but" I leaned over and pulled the he hiot this when Cat and I were a and never told hiotten him for Father’s Day when I was eleven made me sick to my stomach