Page 11 of Lonely Hearts Day

“Yes, on the count of three.”

“One.”

“Two.”

“Three.”

It was not a smooth motion, our weights disproportioned. I tipped back. He attempted to save me, jerking me forward. My hand flew up for balance and whacked him in the face. He let out a yelp. I spewed apologies. And then somehow we were on the ground. My knees were shoved against my chest and most likely his. His knees sandwiched mine.

“Is it possible this is even less comfortable?” he asked.

“This closet was only made for seven minutes alone,” I said.

He chuckled. “Come here.” He took my feet and pulled them up and toward him, my butt sliding along the carpet. Then he placed them on the ground behind him. I was glad for the dark because suddenly my cheeks were on fire.

We were best friends. The best of best friends. We’d laid next to each other on countless couches and beds and floors for years. But I had never—never!—straddled him before.

“Better?” he asked.

After the initial shock, I could honestly say, “Yes, actually.” The fire in my cheeks was slower to accept this new position though. “What do you think of Sage, by the way?”

“Sage?” he asked.

“That cute Asian girl I introduced you to out there. She thinks you’re hot.”

“She does?” he said as if someone thinking he was attractive was an impossible occurrence.

“Yes,” I said. She probably didn’t want me to tell him that she thought he was hot but I was straddling my best friend. I needed to tell him something unrelated to our legs tangled together.

“You really think my brother is a jerk?” he asked, also a subject-evader.

Topher, his brother, was two years older. Probably at the other party happening tonight with his new girlfriend.

“I don’t like the way he talks to you.”

He treated Jack like he was a constant annoyance. Never wanted him around. And maybe Jack and I annoyed Topher when we were in elementary, but we grew up and he didn’t seem to recognize that. Okay... maybe we could still be annoying sometimes, like a couple months ago, when we kept knocking on his bedroom door and running. I smiled at the memory. It was funny. Topher could have fun if he’d just relax. He took himself way too seriously.

“You think I should stand up for myself to him?”

Sometimes Jack knew what I thought before I’d even thought it myself. My mind flashed back to shoving Micah onto the cement after his mean words directed at Jack.

“You’re not a kid anymore,” I said.

He took several deep breaths.

“You smell like sugar,” he said, instead of responding to my statement.

“The powdered sugar bomb I set off earlier. It’s probably still in my hair.”

“Yeah,” he said. His hands were resting on his ankles and I could feel them there, inches from my waist, the heat making my skin buzz. I could hear him breathing. Feel his chest rise with each deep intake.

Suddenly light flooded the space and I squinted against the brightness.

I couldn’t see anything with my eyes stinging but I heard Troy’s voice say, “This is a singles party, guys, no coupling up.” As if he wasn’t the one who’d shoved us in the closet together.

“Her cheeks are red,” someone else said followed by laughter, which only made my cheeks more red. Jack was busy trying to untangle himself from me and I rocked back to help with the process. There was more space behind me than I had realized.

“We’re going to pin the crown on the princess now,” Sage said. “Do you have a blindfold?”