Candy Colored Sky, стр. 27

“Uh, okay?” I lean to one side and pull my phone from my front pocket and toss it on the bed in front of her. If she asked for my wallet next, I’d probably give her that too. And then my keys, and then she may as well steal my identity.

“Passcode?” She’s cradling my phone, thumbs poised to type as I spill out the numbers for my birth date. She must realize it because she laughs and whispers, “Cute” as she unlocks my phone. She could be doing anything right now, and I’m letting her. Of course I am.

After a few seconds of typing she sets the lock screen back on my phone and holds it out for me to take. I give her a squinting stare as I take back my phone, curious what that was all about. Before I can ask, the sound of my bed springs squeaking with her movement draws my focus back to her, and I completely forget about my phone.

“We should really make this trip, Jonah.” She’s shifted to lay sideways on my bed, her comfort growing as evidenced by my pillow she stuffed under the crook of her neck.

I swallow down the instant lump in my throat and croak out, “Yeah?”

“For sure. I mean, not to Green Town; it’s not real. But to the Blue Ridge Mountains, like you said? I looked at pictures online after you mentioned it, and it looks beautiful. I bet you can actually breathe there. Gah! What I wouldn’t give to just . . . breathe.” She rolls to her back, letting her arms flop out at her sides so she covers the expanse of my mattress.

My throat lump is back. It came back fast, and this time it’s a little too big to swallow.

“You need water?” I rise but one of the buttons on my shirt snags on a wooden groove from my desk, jerking my shirt and my entire left shoulder down as I stand. I cough out as it chokes me and Eleanor smiles out a soft laugh at my performance. I do my best to regain some balance as I move to my door, hoping like hell my suddenly numb legs don’t drop me to my knees in front of her.

“I’m good. Thanks, though,” she says, her head falling to the side, flat on my bed . . . where I sleep. Her eyes land on me as she tugs on the bands around her hair, and I excuse myself before I see her waves and curls spread out on my blanket.

My feet hit the stairs and only pick up speed with each step until I sound like a cattle stampede heading for my Grandpa. He’s settled into his daily paper read at the kitchen table, but thanks to my crash-bang entry, he flattens the paper to the table and meets me with wide eyes and his thick eyebrows pushed up to where his hair probably should be, when he had more of it.

His mouth closes into a wry smile as I pass him by and head straight to the cabinet for a glass. I’m gulping down water a second later.

“What the ever-loving hell, Jonah. Please say you aren’t running away from a bug or a spider. That’s not going to impress the girl.”

I refill my glass for one more round before turning to face him. I’ve never really had anyone to talk to about these kinds of things. Jake listens in his own way, but he doesn’t get what it’s like to be me. If he had a girl he was into on his bed, he’d be next to her in seconds, probably seducing her a minute later. But this is Eleanor, and she’s special beyond words. She’s also not in the kind of place emotionally for anyone to be making moves or whatever.

I lick the moisture from my lips while I think, eventually setting my glass on the table and taking the chair next to my grandpa.

“What do I do?” I stare at him with the most serious expression I can muster, eyebrows up a tick and mouth pulled in tight. He studies me for a few seconds, squinting, and I make sure he knows that I need real advice. “I mean it. You know that Eleanor has always been the girl. But this is not how I wanted to really get to know her. Nothing is normal about any of this, and I am probably just a convenient friend for her right now. But she’s also Eleanor, and honestly . . .”

I breathe out a short laugh and let my head fall into my open palm, arm propped on the table. “I don’t care if she’s using me for a distraction. I don’t care at all because I like spending time with her. But maybe that’s selfish? Am I a dick for wanting her to keep coming over here while her family is literally reeling across the street? Am I—”

“Stop it, Jonah.” My grandpa wraps his hand around my arm, tugging it gently from under my head so I’m forced to sit up straight and look him in the eyes. He twists to sit sideways in his chair, so I do the same. Leaning toward me, he places a palm on either side of my face.

“If you like spending time with that young lady, then you spend time with her. She wouldn’t come to see you if she didn’t want to. And her reasons are whatever her reasons are. If you can be a good friend to her when she truly needs one, then maybe when she heals from this crazy business her family is going through, you’ll have built a really close connection.”

I blink for the first time as he pats his right hand against my cheek then sits back in his chair.

“And it’s okay that I think she’s beautiful?” My chest burns from uttering such honest words.

My grandpa’s mouth tugs high