"Hey," I greeted Bart.He popped a quick kiss on my lips that felt warm and good. Although I had to admit, it wasn't electric-but maybe rocking chairs and growing old wasn't about explosive moments, and instead, relied on deep-seated friendship and mutual attraction."Hey, yourself. You want to grab some dinner? I'm going to meet Jet and Todd in the cafeteria." He leaned against the doorframe.My shoulders relaxed, and I fell under the charm that captivated me anytime we were together. When I was physically in his presence, I was content, happy. Unfortunately, when he wasn't within reach, my mind wandered endlessly. For the time being, I decided to focus on the here and now. At eighteen, I didn't have to make any life-altering decisions-he asked about dinner, not marriage. "Actually, I'm starving." I grabbed my keys and then tugged a sweatshirt over my head. "I wanted to talk to you about something, anyhow." I moved past him and locked my room behind me. Bart took my hand a

When I got back to the house, Bart's car was gone, and I assumed Portia had left with him. It was late, although I didn't know what time since I hadn't grabbed my cell phone when I'd stormed out after dinner. The house was dark, and a heavy silence hung in the air. Every step I took equated to walking in water, and the tension I'd left in the house still gripped every surface and available space. The stairs might as well have been Everest, as hard as they were to climb. A chill ran down my spine that prickled my skin, taking a substantial burden with it and making every step laborious. I didn't find the atmosphere to be any different on the second floor than the first, except there was even less light to illuminate the hall without windows. It wasn't difficult to navigate the familiar path, just uncomfortable. I hadn't felt like a stranger in this house since the first day I'd arrived-now it was as though I was an intruder.After entering the second room on the left, I closed the

Bart and I had exchanged several text messages, but he hadn't encourage me to come back to school early in any of them. In some weird, girly way, it hurt, and in another, it didn't bother me. I was grateful to have a couple days with my parents and Jude, even if he wasn't a barrel of laughs to be around. I hadn't gotten all the details, although I heard enough from the top of the stairs to understand that Jude had finally let go of the emotional wall he'd erected around his heart. I shouldn't have eavesdropped when I heard Ernie retelling Jude's apology to Hensley. It was wrong. I was also a nosy girl who loved the boy my parents were talking about-every teenager in America would have done the same. So, I stood still and listened to their conversation downstairs. Oddly, Ernie wasn't concerned about Jude's breakdown or the fact that he'd stayed holed up in his room all day. In fact, he thought it was the healthiest thing he'd seen from Jude since Carrie died. At that point, I didn't

"Bart's going home for Christmas. It will just be me this weekend. Sorry to disappoint you.""I assure you, I'm not disappointed that your boytoy isn't joining us for the holiday." Jude huffed on the other end of the phone. "I assumed that's what couples did-spent time off together. It suits me just fine to have you home by yourself. Do you want me to pick you up from school?"I hadn't been home since Thanksgiving, and I'd only stayed Thursday and Friday before racing back to campus. "Yeah. I hate that you'll have to drive all that way just to turn around and drive home, but everyone is leaving, and no one is going that direction.""I don't mind. I'll just crank up the radio and sing at the top of my lungs for an hour. That way I won't feel cheated when you get in the car and put on your angry-girl crap.""I don't listen to crap."Jude laughed on the other end of the phone. "But you admit they're angry girls?""Maybe.""I gotta go. Hensley's hollering for me to come to di

I followed behind Ethan as he trailed Carson. There were a handful of people here I didn't recognize, which was always the case at Jamison's. Even though there was only one high school in the county, he had friends that lived a town over. I'd never bothered to learn any of their names since they'd never shown the slightest bit of interest in us. I was pretty good about keeping to myself. Even though Carson and Ethan had found their footing in the social world, I still preferred to keep my head down.I'd never figured out how Jamison got away with having these gatherings. I'd asked him several times if his parents smoked, and he'd always told me no. They were social drinkers, but that was the extent of their deviance. Yet when I asked how they didn't know people spent the weekend smoking pot in their living room, he'd just shrug and flip his hair out of his face. Jamison was perpetually high. I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen him when his eyes weren't glassy and bloodshot-may