Let Me In

DISCLAIMER: Sarah Dessen owns the characters and Along for the Ride.

I pushed down on the pedals and squared my shoulders. I landed the first jump well, easily, loving the feeling of flying through the air, the freedom of it. On each dirt jump, I made it higher and higher still, somehow landing each one with barely a wobble. When I pulled the bike up beside Adam and Wallace, leaning it up against the metal fence that surrounded the jump park.

"That," Adam said, "was amazing! You could so go pro, Maggie."

Wallace offered me a Pringle and I flipped the visor on my helmet so that I could pop one in my mouth.

I looked over to the bleachers, spying Jake behind them, his hands on another girl. God, I loved him.

Adam put a hand on my shoulder, taking my eyes from my boyfriend. Ex, I thought, he's my ex-boyfriend. I shouldn't think about him. I shouldn't care.

But I did.

"Watch this," Adam said, climbing onto his bike – the same bike that I had just borrowed – and he pedalled off at an insane speed.

"Show-off," Wallace said as he crunched on yet another Pringle.

I didn't take my eyes off Adam as he made his way over the jumps, some not so gracefully. On the last jump, his front tire slipped out from under him and he went flying over the handlebars and into the dirt.

The whole park drifted into silence as we waited for Adam to get up. Adam always got up. Then when he didn't, Wallace and I glanced at each other before running across the brown dirt tracks to where Adam was.

I held the back of my hand over Adam's nose and mouth to see if he was breathing. He was.

His eyes opened slowly and he smiled at me. "Hey Maggie."

"Adam," Wallace said, kneeling beside me. "Get up before someone runs you over." Adam didn't move. Wallace and I lifted him up so that he was standing then shoved our shoulders into his armpits.

"Was it a good stack?" he asked.

"You're an idiot, Adam." Wallace muttered.

"Maggie?" Adam asked, leaning on me too heavily.

"It was a great stack," I told him. "The best I've ever seen."

When I glanced over at the trees, I thought I saw Eli, but I knew Leah was right. That rumour did go around every week. What were the chances that Eli would be riding tonight over any other night of the summer?

I'd been working at Clementine's since lunchtime, and I'd helped a woman find the perfect pair of jeans, sold a red boyshort bikini and a bottle of Booty Berry perfume. So when Esther pushed through the front door, dressed in a denim skirt and a purple t-shirt, I smiled wide.

"Hey," I said.

"Has it been busy today?"

"Not really."

"I went to the Gas/Gro," she told me as she settled on the spare stool behind the counter. "Got some gum and cookies." She held out the packet and I took a stick of gum. "You hanging around or are you going to go and convince Adam to buy you something from the Gas/Gro?"

I shot a look at her. "I'm hanging around."

"I suppose you're right," she replied as I unwrapped the gum and put it in my mouth. "Adam buys you something every time anyway, it's not like he needs convincing."

"Just leave it alone."

Auden walked in the door sometime late in the afternoon. Every time I saw her I saw a girl who had hooked up with my boyfriend – ex-boyfriend, I reminded myself – not anyone else. Then there was the fact that she seemed to think that she was better than Leah, Esther and me. Snob.

Esther said, "Hey Auden," and Auden simply nodded in response, heading into the pink office, closing the door behind her. "Well," Esther muttered, "she certainly could've been more polite."

I agreed, and glanced up at the clock. "My shift is officially over!" I told her. "So scoot off my stool."

Esther sighed and stood.

I sat down and smiled triumphantly.

"Maybe you should just give in to him."

"Or not."

Leah walked in through the front door, her red hair pulled back into two Heidi-like pigtails. "Hey girls, I bought some Coke."

"Yum," I smiled as Leah passed a paper cup to me, "thanks."

"How's Adam these days?" Leah asked and I rolled my eyes. "I heard he took one hell of a fall last night, and that you rescued him."

I chose to ignore that last comment. "He did; he's bruised and scraped all over."

Esther smirked. "Only you would know that."

I sighed. I'd walked right into that one.

"That's what I thought."

I hiked my handbag up over my shoulder, my flip-flops whacking against the boardwalk as I headed home after a Jump Java outing with Esther and Leah.

I heard the clatter of wheels coming up behind me and turned around, spotting Adam I smiled without thinking. "Want some Skittles?" he asked, pulling up beside me.

"Sure," I replied, unable to keep the smile off my face.

He took the packet out of his jeans pocket and held them out to me.

"Thanks, Ad."

"You coming to the jump park?"

"I was headed home, actually."

"Going to do some more pre-college study?"

"I was going to go to bed, sleep, like normal people do."

"Want a lift home?"

I glanced behind me, down the boardwalk. It was empty, like always at midnight, and it was still a fair walk to my home. "Yeah, all right."

"Jump up, then."

I climbed up onto the handlebars of his bike and held my handbag in my lap.

We started forward and I closed my eyes, letting the wind whistle through my hair. It was like flying, this feeling.

"Doesn't it hurt?" I asked. "What with your stack the last night."

"Riding, you mean?" I nodded, putting my hands on the handlebars, my fingers over Adam's. "No, of course not."

"Why do I get the feeling you're lying?"

Adam pedalled off the boardwalk and onto the main road, dropping a few centimetres, the force of the front wheel hitting the asphalt jolting up through my fingers.

"Oof!" Adam said quietly, jerking the bike to a standstill.

"You all right?" I asked, hopping off the handlebars. "I can walk from here, if you want ..."

"No, Maggie. Stay."

"Adam ..." Obviously his stack the night before had been worse than he'd been making it out to be. "Maybe you should sit down?"

He hopped off his bike and laid it down on the road before sitting on the kerb. He held his head in his hands, his elbows rested on his knees.

"Uh, do you want some Tylenol?"

"No, no. I'm all right."

"You're obviously not."

"Maybe I'm just faking it," he joked, peeking up at me through his thick hair.

"I hope not."

He lifted his head up, his eyes level with mine. He was still cute as he had always been, definitely not "good-looking" – not like Jake, not like Eli – but Adam was Adam.

"Maggie. I like you."

"I know," I said. It was hard not to notice when Leah and Esther were constantly on my back about it. I'd obviously given him the wrong answer – they weren't the right words – his expression had changed to one of utter sadness. How many times had I played this scene over in my mind while telling my two best friends in the whole wide world that I simply was not interested in the boy? Too many to count. "I, uh, like you too."

I was such a fool. Uh. How eloquent! I could've rolled my eyes.

Adam grinned anyway. "Wanna come to the Gas/Gro with me?"

"Because that would be such a romantic date." I rolled my eyes.

"Don't you want candy?"

I narrowed my eyes at him, though I could so go for some gum right now.

"Come on," he said, standing and holding out his hand to me.

"Were you faking that whole time?"

"Not the whole time ..."

"Adam!"

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