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Yes, I want to say—I’irls but never slept beside them That’s a level of intimacy I only ith Ellie Noe’re here with her stupid over the clothes rule and I’irl of ot her

I take a tentative step forward, e ofscared is ridiculous, then stare her down “You should be the one who's scared”

“You ain’t shit, Anderson” She huffs “I’m more scared of a butterfly than I am of you”

Ellie loves butterflies Monarchs to be precise In the second grade, we had a life cycle unit where we grew the das from a worm Ellie was fascinated

Back then, I used to go over to her house after school She would grab her tablet and we’d look at pictures for hours, talking about the different wing colors and patterns She said once I must have been a butterfly in a past life because hed and shoved her shoulder because that’s what kids do

Eight years later, on ot a butterfly tattooed onto turn into a full, so if you weren’t looking you’d miss it, but it’s there

I reach for the button on h as I unbutton and step out of the it to ht, at least I’ll have the i my shirt, for the rest of my life I pull my shirt over my head and toss it by my feet

“I usually sleep nude” That’s a lie I like to sleep in the shorts she’s wearing, just in case I have to run out ofEllie’s cheeks flush pink “But I’ll keep ht”

“Well, aren’t you a gentleman” She rolls her eyes but chews her bottom lip as I crawl under the covers

I turn my back to her and face the other side of the roo It’s a full, which h rooainstas I can stand it and think about everything but her Cars My neork schedule Themy nei

ghbor's piece of shit stepbrother out of town Statistics

I try everything not to notice Ellie’s shallow breathing Or how she smells sweet like candy but also a little like beer I do et hard because that would ht aard as fuck

“Asher?” The ainstpuzzle piece I always kneould Even in this reverse spoon position, ere made for each other

“El?” I look over my shoulder then decide to turn I face her and drape my arm over her waist

She wiggles closer until her stoainst mine That bottom lip of hers slips between her teeth as she looks up at me I can’t read her face but wish I could, because I know she can feel uy