Page 87 of I'm Gonna Get You Back
“What are you doing?” I whisper, discomfited.
His eyes stay closed when he whisper-slurs, “So tired. Juss a lil nap.”
It’s a jolt, having him close like this. Achingly familiar but also confusing. I could maneuver him off me. He’s so out of it I’m not even sure he’d notice.
But as I feel the rise and fall of his rhythmic breathing against the tops of my thighs, I can’t bring myself to do it. Despite everything, he still feels comfortable enough with me to relent like this. To finally rest. That’s enough for me to stay as still as possible.
Which makes the next two hours a torturous practice in restraining myself from the incandescent urge to slide my fingers into his hair like I used to. Especially with him looking criminally cute in that shirt. But I focus on the show, digging my hands into the grass behind me, and somehow, improbably, resist.
When the final scene ends and the audience applauds around us, Reid doesn’t so much as stir. After the curtain call, the crowd mills and Mitchell and Kenji get up to stretch. Mitchell shoots me alookwhen he sees his brother sprawled across me now. I guess it was so dark during the show that he didn’t notice.
Furious heat climbs my face, and I shake Reid’s shoulder harder. “Reid? Show’s over.”
His inhale is sharp, and he blinks several times against the dark. Up at me. The moment it registers, he springs back as if hit with a live wire.
“Whoa—” His voice is rough and sleepy. He drags a hand down his face. “How long was I out?”
“A little over two hours.”
“Jesus. Sorry for”—he gestures awkwardly to my lap—“I didn’t realize.”
“It’s okay.” I stretch, arching my back and pointing my toes against all the tingling sensations as the blood finally rushes back to my limbs. “My legs are totally asleep, though.”
“Why didn’t you wake me?”
But I can’t respond because my breath catches. His hands have moved to my leg closest to him, massaging it the way he used to after long runs or whenever I’d get a cramp. He doesn’t seem to realize he’s doing it, like he’s still half asleep, running on autopilot.
“Um, you don’t have to do that.”
He follows my gaze, and his hands freeze around my calf. But he doesn’t move them. Our eyes meet again, and we’re locked staring at each other when Josh appears out of nowhere and throws his arms out wide. His cheeks are red and his eyes glassy as he stares at Reid’s hands on my leg.
“Ohhhh, look at this!” he exclaims. There’s a sardonic edge to hiswords that only means trouble. “Wow, are congratulations in order?” His booming voice gets the attention of everyone hovering nearby, including Nicole and Logan. “Guess you guys got over that whole video thing?”
Reid slowly pulls his hands back and balls them into fists.
That whole video thing.
“What are you doing?” Nicole hisses at Josh.
Josh shrugs. “Reminiscing.” He shoots Reid a lazy grin that doesn’t reach his eyes.
Logan starts to laugh, but it fades when his gaze collides with Mitchell’s. But Josh keeps going. “God, that was all so…high school.”
Nicole tugs on his arm. “Josh, stop it—”
“I’m just saying! You get to college and none of that shit matters anymore, you know? Well, I guess Claradoesn’tknow—”
But before he can finish his sentence, Reid launches to his feet.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREEREIDNOW
@haikuforyou
Cover me with all
The vines that haunt your mind so
I can grow with you
