I dropped Edward at his car at the crack of dawn, and I could still feel the electric kiss he'd left on my mouth, my lips and cheek tingly from the static shock where he touched me. I then drove a blind, lust-crazed crawl to pick up Jacy, savoring every last minute of him before I was bombarded. She commandeered the radio the minute we hit the road, and tortured me with every song ever recorded after 2009.

It was so awful, we had to stop for ice cream.

"You're acting weird." Jacy narrowed her eyes at me.

"I am not." I licked my dripping ice cream. The sun felt warm, and the air was rushing through the car windows. I'd gotten some honey and lavender-flavored concoction, the prettiest shade of purple, and I had a new skirt on, the shortest one I owned. I had a hickey on my thigh that hurt when I touched it.

The world was pretty fucking wonderful today.

I was acting stupid, lovelorn, and fucking weird.

"Yes. You are. Where are we even going?"

"To the skate competition."

"Really?" Jacy squealed, and she didn't stop until I yelled at her about cracking my windshield.

The skate park was jam-packed. We had to park the car a full six blocks away and hoof it through the heat to even get to the sidelines. We milled through the crowd for a while before we spotted him.

He was talking to a tall, thin blonde girl.

She had five inches on me, weighed twenty pounds less, and looked ten years younger. She was grinning at him, and he was smiling at her, and something lurched in my stomach.

We got more ice cream, then we watched him win.

Of course he would win. Surprisingly, it was the blonde girl who came right up on his heels, matching him beat for beat, until she fell right at the end. Edward had been full of some furious sort of energy, barreling around the bowl as though he owned it, taking his tricks fearless and huge. I held my breath the entire time he had that board underneath him, terrified and awestruck at the same time.

We loitered around as the crowds ebbed, finally spotting him finishing up an interview. "Edward!" Jacy yelled, jumping and waving. His eyes fell on her, then on me, and he flashed me that shit-eating grin. The super cute one. The one he'd given me over the hood of his car this morning.

He hadn't known we were coming.

He weaved toward us, the blonde hot on his heels. "You're here," he said to me, but Jacy took all of my glory.

"It was my idea!"

Edward gave her a high five before glancing back at the blonde. "Jack, I've got someone you need to meet. Sarah is my only competition here. And guess what?" He leaned in close to Jacy, whispering conspiratorially. "She's a girl."

The blonde smiled knowingly the moment she met my daughter. "You're Jack? Edward hasn't stopped talking about you all day."

"Will you sign my board?" Jacy was all heart-eyes and bewilderment—this big girl skating with the big boys, and killing it. Sarah dropped to one knee and chatted with Jacy, while Edward straightened and gave me a sweet smile.

"I'm really glad you came." He looked like he wanted to stand closer. Way closer.

I shrugged, trying to act nonchalant. "Spur of the moment."

"Can I come over later?"

"We have a long drive home, and she has an early flight tomorrow. We can't stay up late."

"Where is she going?"

"School trip."

"How long?"

"Four days."

"You might get lonely. Wanna be my friend?"

I nodded, face on fire, and stomach tied up in butterflies.

AN

HH is my voice of reason.

Thank you for reading.

xo

HB