Avoiding his gaze, I slipped my hand free and folded my arms across my chest.
“You need to stop at your locker?” he asked after a moment.
Thinking about it, I shook my head. We walked out into the overcast afternoon skies.
Only when we stopped by my car did I allow myself to look at him.
His expression was unreadable as he leaned against the back passenger door. “There was something I wanted to ask you earlier. I want to show you the garage—Razorback.” Lifting a hand, he knocked the hair back from his forehead. “I thought you might want to see what I’ve been working on. What are you doing Saturday?”
My heart started pounding like I was being chased by a chain-wielding serial killer. “Um...” I trailed off a second before screaming nothing from the top of my lungs, but that wasn’t true. Ainsley wanted to get together Saturday and even if she didn’t, there was the whole Paige thing.
Rider arched a brow.
I could feel my cheeks heat. Who knew what he was thinking while I was standing there staring at him. “I’m supposed to meet Ainsley for lunch and then...we’re hanging out.”
He was silent for a moment and then shoved his hands into his pockets. “Cool.” His gaze flipped up and over me. I turned slightly, spying Hector’s car coming down the center aisle. “I’d like to meet her.”
Wait.
What?
He wanted to meet Ainsley?
Rider bit down on his lower lip. “So, you know, I’m sort of inviting myself along.”
He really wanted to meet my best friend?
His head tilted to the side. “And if you think that’s not cool, this is about to get real awkward.”
I blinked, realizing I needed to say something. Anything. Hector’s car stopped a few feet back from mine. Should we do this? I searched my head for rules I wasn’t really familiar with. This really wouldn’t be the first time we were together outside school. We grabbed food together and we’d gone to the library. He’d been to my house, but I wasn’t counting that. Friends did hang out together.
But I didn’t look at Rider, think about him, like someone who was just a friend. Though he didn’t know that. Yet I did know that.
I was so confused.
“Will it...be cool for us to hang out?” I asked.
His brows lowered. “Yeah, it would be cool.”
Unsure if he got what I was asking, I inhaled deeply. I wanted him to meet Ainsley. She was super important to me. I made my decision. “I...I would like that.”
Rider’s reaction was immediate. He smiled and the dimple appeared. My breath caught. I’d actually invited Rider along to meet Ainsley. I wanted that. Really wanted that, but I had no idea what to do with that.
Regardless, excitement hummed through me. Hanging out with Rider and Ainsley was normal. Something a million people probably did every day, because they were actually living life, but it was a first for me—a huge first. It was my best friend and it was the guy...the guy who’d been my best friend and who now, despite everything, felt like something deeper, richer and more intricate, hanging out together.
It felt important.
“Perfect,” he said, pushing off the side of my car. “Glad it’s not going to get really awkward now.”
“Yo,” Hector called out as he extended an arm out the window. “You ready, man? I’ve got to head out.”
“Yeah. Be right there.” Rider handed my bag over as he lowered his head toward mine. I stilled as the air rushed out of my lungs. His lips brushed over the curve of my cheek, sending a rush of tight shivers down my spine. “I’ll text you later and we’ll talk about Saturday.”
I thought I said okay. I wasn’t entirely sure. I might’ve just stood there and stared at him. But Rider smiled that smile that reached deep into my chest and wrapped around my heart. I watched him hop into Hector’s car, waved at Hector as he peeled out of the lot, and then I climbed into my Honda and sat behind the wheel.
I didn’t turn the car on.
What was I thinking? Feeling?
It didn’t matter.
Staring out across the rapidly emptying parking lot, I realized something extremely important. Almost earth-shattering in its simplicity. Caught up in excitement for Saturday, I’d forgotten all about Mr. Henry and Miss Becky, about Carl and Rosa calling the school, about speech and me not talking. I forgot about everything.
Because it wasn’t that important.
Something else was.
Living life was.
* * *
It was an ice-cream kind of night, or so Rosa told me when she came into my bedroom later that evening, carrying two bowls of the stuff.
Chocolate.
With tons of chocolate syrup.
Celebration for my successful speech was on.
Carl had to work late so it was just the two of us. Seeing her in sweatpants and a cotton shirt seemed so odd, because I almost always saw her in green surgical scrubs.
Rosa sat beside me and handed over the bowl. “I hope you still have some room in your stomach for dessert.”
I grinned. “I always...have room for dessert.”
She smiled. “Are you sure we’re not connected by blood?”
I laughed as I scooped up some of the cool, soft, syrup-covered goodness. Rosa glanced around the room, her gaze landing on the dresser. “Is that the latest carving?”
I nodded. “It’s an...owl.”
She stood, balancing her bowl in one hand as she walked over to it. Picking it up, she looked over her shoulder at me, her dark eyes glimmering. “Mallory, this is really good.”
“Thank you.”