Kiss Me Again by Rachel Vail Read Free Book Online

maybe took advantage of that.”
    “Oh.”
    “You were right, and I was blind to all that. Or maybe just didn’t want to know. But, whatever. I’m over it. You and Kevin kind of used each other to get back at me. That’s all it ever was between you. I get that now.”
    I had no words.
    “Also …”
    I turned to look at her again. Her eyes were even more sparkly than usual. She blinked twice, swallowed, cleared her throat. Her pretty mouth curved down into a frown as she whispered, “I miss you.”
    “I miss you, too, Tess.”
    “So, we rescue each other.” She sniffed once, hard, and forced a brave smile.
    “We …”
    “I rescue you from lunch with your boyfriend, who loves you, and you rescue me from lunch with the Pop-Tarts, who are so damn boring with all their giggling and backhanded compliments, I want to put a fork through my eye.”
    I laughed. Tess laughed. And right then, the sun came out from behind a cloud and shined down hard on us. “Wow,” I said. “No subtlety at all, huh, sun?”
    “If you were made of explosions,” Tess said, “you’d be unsubtle, too.”
    “You mean I’m not made of explosions?”
    “Good point. We’re both made of explosions, too, aren’t we? Explains a lot.”
    I tossed my lunch garbage toward the trash can, and for the first time in my life, it went in. Deciding to take it all as a good omen, I leaned my shoulder against Tess’s. She leaned back.
    “So it’s weird, living with Kevin?” she asked.
    “Weird doesn’t begin to cover it.”
    She laughed her wicked laugh, and all felt right with the world. Mostly.

ten
    BECAUSE I AM a wimp, I did not launch into my speech until after we got our ice-cream cones. When we sat on the bench together, George put his arm on the bench behind me. My ice cream started to drip onto my fingers.
    At least I paid for the cones, was my pathetic self-commiseration.
    Though even then, I did say okay, that he could buy next time. Which made starting the conversation that much worse. I stalled by concentrating on my ice cream.
    He licked around the bottom of his scoop to keep any of his Cookie Dough Dynamo from dripping, then asked, “How’s life in the new blended family?”
    “Um, I, it, what? Good, I guess.”
    “What’s wrong, Charlie? You seem … weird.”
    “I am weird.”
    “True, but usually in a good way. Hey, did Tess say something mean again?”
    “No,” I said. “We’re actually, things are better.”
    “Good,” he said. “Just be careful.”
    “Of what?”
    “In general.”
    “Of falling in a hole? Stepping in poop? What are you talking about, George? Be careful in general? What the heck kind of thing is that to say to a person?” I was shrieking. It was unsettling us both.
    “Of Tess,” he said quietly.
    “She’s my BEST FRIEND.”
    “Oh … kay,” he said, and we both intensely ate our ice cream for a moment.
    “Sorry,” I said without looking at him. We licked our cones in silence for a minute, until I took a deep breath and said, “I don’t even know how to say this and not be more of a jerk than I already am.”
    “Just say it,” he whispered.
    “You are the nicest guy in the world.”
    “Oh. Really? That’s the—oh.” He stood up and tossed his half-eaten ice-cream cone into the trash can beside the bench. He wiped his hands clean on his napkin and then tossed that into the can, too, before sitting back down. This time, his arm wasn’t around me. “Fine, go ahead.”
    I took a deep breath and launched into my prepared comments. My notes, jotted down during social studies, were in my bag, but I decided against pulling them out and went from memory instead. “You said, at my mother’s wedding, that the one I need to forgive, about the whole mess I created with Tess and Kevin and all that, was myself.”
    “Uh-huh,” he said without looking up from his clasped hands, which were between his wide-spread knees. “I did. I said that. It’s true, by the way.”
    “Well, maybe