ALEXANDERIt had been years since I had the freedom to drive through a small town, cruising down the empty streets with the windows down. The air felt thinner, and I wasn’t sure if it was because of the elevation difference between the city and here or if the air was just less polluted. Still, as
BAILEEI hadn’t told them what Caleb wanted me to do, but I did tell them he planned to take the resort from them if I didn’t do what he said. We had been discussing our options for almost two hours, and I was exhausted. Brinley had passed out on the couch about an hour in with my mother’s pho
BAILEE SEVEN AND A HALF YEARS AGO (Seventeen Years Old) A light tapping sound against my window made me pull my pencil from my paper, and a smile spread over my face when I saw Alex standing outside with his hood pulled up over his head. The rain was pouring down, and I jumped from my seat as a
ALEXANDER There were too many memories around me, and by the time I made it to my room, I felt drained. Even so, I couldn’t fall back on my bed and pass out like I wanted to because I hadn’t let go of my phone yet. I couldn't miss it when they would call to tell me that my foster parents were d
BAILEEBrinley was still passed out in my bed when I got out of the shower. With how overstimulating and exciting the day was, I hadn’t expected her to wake up while I was in there, but I still took the quickest shower of my life, terrified she would roll out of bed or wake up and realize she was in
ALEXANDER “So, Andrea was like screaming, trying to get this disgusting squirrel off her head, but she just made it angrier, and it, like, went down the back of her shirt!” “No!” Ben exclaimed, staring at her in disbelief, his sarcasm thick in his voice. I threw my head back, laughing, but I ha
BAILEE I couldn’t look at my parents at breakfast the next day, and I was relieved to find that I could move my flight up. Instead of staying for a few days, Brinley and I could leave that afternoon. Brinley would be cranky with the flight overlapping with her usual naptime, but we would get thro
ALEXANDER I felt like I had been sucker punched, and I knew I was staring, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Bailee. Was Brinley not her first kid? It was like I was seeing her clearly for the first time. Her resistance to letting me in wasn’t just her being mad over the prom. It was so much more th