Page 4 of Bad Decisions & Back Roads

No one else called me the shortened version of my middle name, Rylan.She’d decided it fit.“You’re not a Timothy,”she’d announced that first day we went fishing.She had wrinkled her nose and said,“And I’m not Regina.”Said as if we got to choose who we were out there at the lake.

“How?”I asked.“How are you getting out?Are you running off during the school trip?”

She shook her head and stepped into me again, wrapping her arms around me so tight it knocked the breath from my lungs.Her fingers dug into my back hard enough to hurt.This wasn’t comfort.Wasn’t relief.Wasn’t even an I-love-you kind of hug.The way she buried her head into the crook under my chin felt as if she wanted to fold herself into me and live there.

This was desperation.Something awful was tearing her apart.

“What is it?”Unease crawled up my spine.Something bad was coming.

When she finally pulled back, I caught her face and kissed her before I could overthink it.Her lips were soft and achingly familiar.The moment she kissed me back, everything between us detonated.

She kissed me like she was starving for it.Months of wanting crashed into me all at once.My hands slid into her hair while hers fisted in my shirt, gripping me like I was the only thing keeping her standing.

For a few seconds, she gave herself to it completely.She melted against me like she didn’t want there to be any space left between us.

Then she ripped herself away.

One second she was in my arms, kissing me like she couldn’t get enough.The next she was backing up, breathing hard, staring at me with a look that damn near gutted me.

Her mouth parted like she wanted to say something, then stopped.Her fingers curled tight against her own wrist.She wouldn’t quite meet my eyes.

“We could get married,” I blurted.

The words landed between us like a gunshot.

She jerked back as if I’d struck her.“What?”

“I love you, Gia.You know I do.I want to get you out of this.”The confession came spilling out too fast to stop now.“We’ll figure it out.I don’t care how ugly it gets.I’ll make it work.”

We’d never had more than stolen kisses by the lake and late-night talks nobody else knew about, but she understood me in ways no one ever had.She used to say we’d always be “friends in the dark.”Meaning when everything else went to hell, we’d still find each other.At least that’s what I’d always believed.

“How?”Her head jerked to glance over her shoulder so fast it was like she expected her father to appear any second.Color drained from her face.“Living with your parents?I’d be the girl everybody whispers about.The one who trapped their son.”

Her fingers twisted together hard enough to blanch her knuckles.“They’ll assume I’m pregnant.”She shook her head once, sharp and frantic.“My dad will kill both of us.I think he’d have to sign for us to marry, and he’d never do it.”

“My family would protect you,” I said immediately.“They’d know we didn’t—that you’re not—” Heat crawled up my neck.“They’d know the truth.”

A broken laugh escaped her, brittle and wrong.“Right.That’ll fix everything.”She stepped back farther, wrapping her arms around herself like she was trying to hold herself together.“What will we tell them?”Her eyebrows shot upward.“Don’t worry, we’re not pregnant.Just stupid enough to ruin our lives.”

“We won’t ruin anything,” I said, more desperate now.“We’ll work.I’ll work.You can do whatever you want.Finish school.Go to college.We’ll figure it out.”

“How will we survive?”she pressed.“You on your dad’s farm and me ringing up groceries at Piggly Wiggly?”

“If that’s what it takes.”I meant it.“I want you to be safe.”

“We won’t be safe.”She whispered the words so softly I barely heard them.That’s when it changed.Something in her eyes went still.Not softer.Not angrier.

It was resolve.But a resolve to do what?

“No,” she said, stepping further back.“People like us don’t just get married as teens.Not unless something’s gone wrong.”Her chin lifted, daring me to argue.“We have to be done.”

The words didn’t land.They hovered there, meaningless.

“Done?”I echoed.My chest felt hollow.“Gia, we—” I let out a broken breath.“How can we ever bedone?” I couldn’t conceive of a world without her.“Why are you breaking us apart?Did he threaten you?”

She wouldn’t look at me.That was her determined lip clench, like she was forcing herself through this.“I won’t see you again after today.”

The ground shifted under me, like I’d missed a step in the dark.“Gia?—”