Some Kind of Normal

“I’m being serious. Since when do you pull a stunt like this?”

Did I want to get into it? No. But I knew Hailey wouldn’t leave it alone, so I decided to give her a little recap. “Mom and Isaac went to New England. He’s going to camp and then joining her at my uncle’s for a few weeks. My dad thinks that I went with them.”

“So he has no idea at all that you’re here? You didn’t leave him a note or anything? Like he thinks you’re in another state with your mom?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know what he thinks. I haven’t seen him yet.”

“Wow. If anyone else had the balls to do this, I’d say that I was impressed.” She took a step toward me. “But Everly. This isn’t you. It’s not even me. I tell my mom everything. What’s going on?” Hailey knew me better than anyone, and I knew that she was concerned. I saw it in her eyes. “Look, I’ll be the first to admit that Link’s taken up a lot of my time. But you would tell me if something was up, right?”

“Hailey. Stop. It’s okay.”

“But it’s not. You’ve been weird for weeks, and I guess I was just hoping you’d come around. You used to tell me everything.”

Man, I so didn’t want to do this.

“Hailey. I’m good.”

She didn’t believe me.

“Trevor isn’t, like, making you do something you don’t want to do, is he?”

“No! God no.”

“Well? Are you going to tell me what the problem is? Because I know something is going on.”

“Nothing. Everything.” I sighed. “I don’t know. I didn’t want to go with my mom, and I really didn’t want to stay home with Dad so…I just sort of ended up here.”

“That’s it?” she asked. I could tell by the tone of her voice she wasn’t going to let this go, but a soft knock sounded behind me, and we both turned as Trevor walked into the room.

“Do you guys need a minute?” he asked, his arms above his head. The edge of his T-shirt lifted, exposing enough taut skin to get those butterflies dive-bombing again.

“Yes,” Hailey said.

“No,” I replied at the same time.

“Okay, so what am I doing?” Trevor asked, eyes moving from Hailey

to me.

Hales sighed. “You’re gonna tell me, right? Eventually?”

I nodded, afraid to talk because my throat was so tight.

She glanced at Trevor. “I think we’re good. I’m heading to bed.” She gave me a quick hug and whispered. “I love you, idiot girl. And I’m here for you when you’re ready to talk, okay? Be careful.”

And then I was alone with Trevor.

He closed the door and shoved his hands into the front pockets of his shorts before turning to me, and that was it. I was done. The guy took my breath away. With his amazing eyes, that slow crooked smile, and that five o’clock stubble on his chin, he was all kinds of intensely yummy. And the hair…man, I wanted to run my fingers through those thick waves.

“So,” he said, moving forward. “Tinker Bell?”

The ends of his hair were damp as if he’d just had a shower. “What?” Man, I sounded like a dork. A dork who was running out of breath, because seriously, it was as if he was sucking up all the air, leaving me weak and helpless. I stared at the pulse that beat at his neck. It was beating fast. As fast as mine, and that made me feel a little better. His index finger slipped under the strap of my tank top, and I think that maybe the floor moved beneath my feet. Not kidding.

“Your pajamas. Tinker Bell.”

“Oh,” I managed to say. He was so warm and he smelled so nice. “I have a thing for…ah, Peter Pan, and you know…”

But he’d moved on, and I inhaled sharply as his fingers moved along the top of my shoulder until they found a spot at the base of my skull.