The Space Between Us by Anie Michaels Read Free Book Online Page B

anymore either. Reeve stirred up all kinds of thoughts and emotions in me that I didn't know if I was ready to deal with. It was spring and even though it wasn't raining, there was still a chill in the air. I wrapped my arms around my waist.
       “Here,” Asher said as he slipped off his jacket and wrapped it around my shoulders.
       “Thanks,” I said and offered him a small smile. I pulled it tighter around my body. It was huge on me and could probably wrap around me twice. All the extra fabric caused it to bunch up in front of my jaw and I couldn't help but inhale the scent that permeated from the collar of the coat. It smelled like him. The intoxicating smell of Asher, mixed with the scent of the wet pavement was almost too much for my body to handle. I felt my heartbeat speed up, and I tried to keep the expression on my face even and unaffected.
       “So, about the Spring Fling,” Asher said, breaking the silence of the unusually quiet walk we were sharing.
       “What about it?” I tried so hard to sound normal, but all I could hear was my heartbeat pulsing in my ears.
       “Well, I was thinking, maybe we could all go in a group. I mean, I know your dad won't let you go with a date, but maybe he'd let you go with a big group of people.”
       “I guess there's no harm in asking.”
       “Do you want to go to the dance? You know,” he said quickly, “with a group of people?”
       “Sure,” I said just as quickly.
       “Cool. So, I won't go with anyone in particular, and neither will you. We'll go together, you know, with everyone else. But we'll all be there together, as a group.”
       “That sounds good,” I said, trying not to smile. Even though the conversation was making me nervous, his excited rambling was making me laugh. I couldn't really remember a time when Asher was nervous. Before I could stop to think about the words that came out of my mouth, I asked, “Why didn't you just say you'd go with Samantha?” In the darkness I saw the corners of his mouth creep up into a smile, but his voice came out cool and controlled.
       “She isn't who I want to go with.” I looked away before he could catch me watching him or see my smile. This was good. We would go to the dance, but not together. Not with anyone else, mind you, but not as a date. I took a deep breath. This was ok.
     
       That night when I returned from Asher's basketball game, my dad sat at the kitchen table reading a book, waiting for me.
       “Hi, Charlie Bear.  How was Asher's game?”
       “Good,” I said as I took off his jacket, frowning that I had forgotten to give it back to him.
       “They win?”
       “Yeah. Asher scored some awesome three-pointers too. He's so good.”
       “If he works hard, he might be able to play college ball. He's got a lot of potential,” Dad said, still looking at me. I gave him a small smile.
       “So, Papa Bear,” I said sweetly. He knew something was coming by my term of endearment. I grew out of calling him Papa Bear when I was about seven, even though his nickname for me would never die. I was ok with that.  I liked that my dad still called me Charlie Bear. “Asher, Reeve and I were talking, and we all want to go to the Spring Fling together with a group of people. Do you think it would be ok if I went?”
       “What is the Spring Fling?”
       “It's a dance at school. It's semi-formal, so I would probably need to get a dress.”
       “A dance, huh?”
       “Yeah, but none of us are taking dates.  We're just all going to go as a group, like, a big group of friends.” I'm not even sure I believed what I was saying, so I was sure my dad was going to see straight through me and bring up what was really going on. I wiped my sweaty palms on the back pockets of my jeans. I tried to remain cool; I really wanted to go to this dance. I could admit that to myself even if I wouldn't admit it to Asher or Reeve. But if my dad knew why I wanted to