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I stride over to her and link our hands together "Do you trusta beat

I walk backward, gently pulling her with me She follows, but her smile fades as her eyes drift overher to "Oz"

"Not far in," I say as if I’ spot "Just far enough to where I can kiss you"

She brightens at kiss, but then she assesses the sky It’s evening and with it being the middle of summer, the sun still shines from the west Blue sky above A scattered white cloud here or there

An edge of panic tightens her features, but E uide her past the tree line her chest begins to flutter at a faster rate and sweat breaks out on her palm

I rub my thumb over the top of her hand and keep my eyes locked on hers "Have you ever jumped into a pile of leaves?"

Eh the trees Her face loses color and I stop us when she visibly quakes

I inch into her personal space and then gently back her up until she’s supported against the trunk of a tree Because I can’t help h so that our bodies are touching This is how it’s meant to be--me this close to her

"Don’t be scared," I say "I won’t let anything happen to you"

"I know It’s just hard" She raises h me as she presses my palm to her heart Damn, her skin is soft and the tissue beneath oing to explode"

Because I’inity on the floor of the forest, I lower our hands "In the fall, there’s a e and yellow leaves In the winter, it’s real quiet and when it snows you can see animal tracks Chevy, Violet, Razor and I used to play back here all the time The tree house we built as kids sits farther back"

"Were you close with Violet once?"

"Yeah She created these elaborate hand signals for us to use while ere playing hide-and-seek or capture the flag She’s the one that convinced us to hang that" I tip ing off a huge oak

"You guys are obsessed with ropes," she says

I chuckle "Every fall we e that it’s a mountain We use the rope to jump into the pile I’ve never invited anyone to do it with us before and I decided that e do it this year, I’d like irl to be there"