The Way Back Home by Alecia Whitaker Read Free Book Online Page B

he acted totally normal. Just regular ol’ Dylan zoning out after the show on his Beats, staring up at the bottom of my bunk, so I just got ready for bed like usual except, with you not here, I was, like, ‘Um, what do I do now?’”
    â€œWhat did you do?”
    â€œI climbed up into my bed and started watching
10 Things I Hate About You
.”
    â€œOh man.”
    â€œI was feeling romantic!”
    â€œOkay, so did something actually happen between you guys, or what?”
    â€œWait for it!” she says, grabbing my arm. “So I was all into Heath Ledger and his bad-boy charm, but at the same time, I was thinking about being on the bus
alone
with Dylan. So finally I kind of flung my arm off the side of the bed, like, so casual, and I was waiting and hoping he’d just, like, touch it or hold it or something.”
    â€œYou thought he was going to hold a hand that was just hanging out there in the wide open?” I ask, teasing her.
    â€œI just—I don’t know! It was stupid. But I fell asleep with my hand like that. And I guess Dylan had to get up later, and when he did, he closed my computer and set it to the side and tucked my arm back in my bed—obviously I woke up but pretended I was still totally asleep—and his face literally lowered toward mine, and I was like,
‘Oh my God, this is a freaking Snow White moment.’
But he didn’t kiss me or anything. He just whispered, ‘Good night, pretty girl.’” She pauses, looking at me expectantly.
    â€œWhoa,” I say, a beat or two later than a best friend probably should in a moment like this.
    And then she screams and kicks her feet. “It was amazing!”
    Okay, he’s not your brother, he’s not your brother, he’s not your brother. Act like he’s not your brother.
    â€œStella, I would die,” I say honestly.
    She turns toward me on the pillow and keeps going. “It gets better.”
    â€œThere’s more?” I ask.
    â€œBird, you were gone for a few days.”
    â€œStill.”
    â€œThis is too big for text!” she squeals. “I wanted to see your face.”
    I purposefully arrange said face into an expression that mirrors her excitement and try not to be bummed that I missed so much while I was working in LA. “Okay, what else?” I ask.
    â€œSo the next day, I was emboldened. I asked him if he wanted to watch a movie and he did, but instead of watching something we already have on the bus, he suggested we go see something in town.”
    She looks at me again. I can tell this is really big for her, but I can’t connect the dots. “Cool,” I say vaguely.
    â€œBird!” she cries. “He clearly wanted to take me on a real, thought-out date.”
    â€œDid he call it that?”
    She considers, and I see her deflate slightly in front of me. Guilt twists my gut.
    â€œI mean, it probably was,” I amend. “Sounds like it was.”
    â€œ
Anyway
,” she goes on. “When Grantuam finally fought for Janelle’s freedom—” She stops abruptly and covers her mouth. “Oh, sorry.”
    â€œStella, I promise you that is not a spoiler. There is no way I’m watching an alien black belt save the world, not in a million years.”
    She grins. “Okay, so he saved her, and it was a semi-romantic part but actually also really funny ’cause, you know, aliens and karate. Well, Dylan and I looked at each other and laughed, and then, like it was the most natural thing in the world, he grabbed my hand. And he held it until the end. And it was just”—she sighs and closes her eyes—“the most perfect day.”
    â€œI did
not
realize how much you liked my brother.”
    She nods. “I’ve got it bad.”
    I look up at the ceiling and think about it all. I do want them to be happy. I just don’t want to deal with the fallout if things go badly. I’ve lived