Page 77 of It’s All in How You Fall
And before I can even tuck in my shirt, Alex is already kicking up. He’s far more vertical and steady than he was all those weeks ago on the park basketball court.
“Have—have you been practicing?”
It’s clear when Alex attempts to reply that the answer is yes. “Maybe.” Simply the presence of an attempted, let alone successful, answer coming while he’s inverted screams YES. He kicks down and smoothly stands up. “But just for this moment. Not for any other reason.”
Wait. What?
And now he’s driving the bus. “Ready?” Before I can answer or even move, he starts counting. “Three, two, one…”
He kicks up and I have to follow suit. My shirt’s still not tucked in, but I don’t give a shit, I just kick up, toes pointing in my tennis shoes. My fingers arch, working the cracking surface of the Northland tennis court in the baking sun of the last week of July. All the heat it collected since sunup seeping through my palms and up my braced arms.
After a few seconds, I can feel Alex begin to go loose. He’s learned to walk on his hands to save a handstand, but he goes too far and knocks straight into me.
In a flash, his warm legs touch mine, and then we’re both tumbling toward the court.
Alex catches himself quickly enough to reach out for me. Of course I’m fine, managing to execute a quick pirouette into a front walkover to avoid landing on him. The lowest portion of my back stiffens, but I’m no stranger to that and arch through to complete the whole maneuver. I end up standing, facing him where he sits on the ground, one hand extended toward me, color high in his cheeks from being upside down.
Actually, he looks just like he did the day I offered to reintroduce him to Sunny. Red-faced and human and full of actual, heart-rattling emotions.
Feeling brave, I take his hand and sink to the ground. I wrap my other arm around my knees, hugging them tight to my chest. His hand is solid, holding me more than I’m holding on to him, our grip flipped. My heart leaps to my throat, threatening to cut off my air supply. Before it does, I use that bravery to put my heart on the line.
“Alex Zavala, I have a confession to make.”
The flush at his cheeks deepens.
I open my mouth to tell him. That I do have a crush on him. That I shoved it down deep and tried to pretend my feelings weren’t there, threatening to smother me from the inside out. That I really did think he was perfect for Sunny, and she was perfect for him. That in my quest for engineered romantic perfection, I completely discounted my own heart, and his and Sunny’s in the process.
But nothing comes out.
He’s watching me, his dark eyes as warm as the sun beating down and his hand in mine. My lips tremble and I tip a millimeter closer to him.
We’re farther apart than that night on the couch, but this time, it’s all the invitation he needs.
This time, Alex kisses me.
It’s so hard and full of want that my hands fly up to clutch his face as I give back everything my heart has asked for in these past few weeks and more.
Our knees knock, and my eyes spring open. I find Alex watching me, his own eyes half-lidded. They appear… relieved? His fingers comb a lock of my hair behind my ear so gently, so calmly, we might as well be in an idyllic English meadow and not on our butts on the baseline of a high school tennis court.
I grin at him, dabbing the indentation of a dimple with the pad of my thumb. “My confession is I like you. A lot.”
I swallow, the words making me feel just as vulnerable as that millimeter I closed before our kiss.
I want to kiss him again, but I also want to hear him say it. Say that his feelings match mine. Our actions are in the open, but words matter—and I need to hear them.
Alex leans in and kisses my left cheek. My right cheek. My forehead. His hands fall to mine, clutching them tight between us, our knees still another point touching. “I like you too.” He boops my nose. “A lot.”
I laugh because I didn’t expect the nose boop, and then he kisses me smack on the lips again, this time softer. His forehead touches mine when he pulls away just enough to speak. “I fell for you more every day we were together, until I was in so deep there was no climbing out.”
Yes—that’s exactly how I felt.
“Still, even when all I could see was you, I fought it. I was afraid of demolishing not only the friendship we’d built, but my relationship with Nat.” He glances down at our hands, his thumbs moving swiftly over my knuckles. “Not to mention, you were already going through seismic change—I didn’t want to break you.”
Tears press against my eyes, but I don’t look away. “I’m stronger than you think.”
He laughs. “I know you could probably bench press your brother.”
“Oh, most definitely.” I swipe at my eyes with my bare shoulder, just so my hands don’t leave his. “I don’t want you to think I’m a terrible friend—Sunny told me about your conversation. She did exactly what Ididn’tdo for her right away and I… I really just wanted to help you and Sunny be happy. And I should’ve known better, I should’ve—”
