Blood Moon (Moon Books) Read Free

and Internet chat when we got older. We’d spend the long months planning our summer campouts and various adventures. I looked forward to his e-mails and our nightly chats more than any other part of my life.
    If I’m being honest, I probably knew I was in love with him by the time I was about fourteen, but of course I didn’t say anything. I was pretty sure he wasn’t into boys and didn’t want to lose his friendship by doing something stupid.
    Happened anyway. I blamed myself.
    The summer I was eighteen, the last summer that I was happy at the lake, had been the best by far. Noah and I had outgrown fort building and the other childish pursuits of years past but we found other ways to bond. We talked and wrote stories together, read comic books and dreamed about the future. We had both been accepted to NYU in the fall, and planned to share a dorm room. I was so desperately in love with him by then that I could barely wait to spend every single night with him only a few feet away. Every once in a while I’d get a twinge when I thought of him meeting a girl. I knew he would, with his gorgeous blond looks and easy smile, but I hoped he would wait at least a few months before he ditched me for a girlfriend.
    It happened in August. He’d been acting a little strange for a few weeks; ever since the day we’d gotten back from our yearly campout for his birthday. I’d tried to pry it out of him, figure out what was wrong, but every day he seemed a little more distant. I got the feeling like he was trying to say goodbye.
    “Noh, what’s going on?” I’d asked him. “You gotta tell me what I did. I’m your best friend.” The look he’d given me that night was so sad I nearly cried.
    “Zack, it’s not you. I promise.” He tried to smile but it looked a little off. He leaned over and nudged me with his shoulder. “I’d tell you if I could but I can’t talk about it. It’s family stuff.”
    I’d reached over, intending to comfort him. I swear that was the only thing I wanted to do. Instead I found myself cupping his chin in my hand and leaning my forehead against his. Funny thing was, he didn’t pull away.
    “I get it,” I whispered, our faces only inches apart. “I’m here if you need me. I’m not going to pressure you to tell me what happened.”
    And that’s when I did it.
    To this day, I don’t know what got into me. Maybe it was too many years of pent up need. But something made me kiss him. Yeah, you heard right. I said I kissed him. Could I have been any more of an idiot? I kissed the guy I’d been friends with since we were five years old, sitting on the dock in the dark with our legs dangling in the lake. I was horrified by my actions but by the time I realized what I was doing it was too late to stop. Definitely too late to take it back.
    The amazing thing, though, was that he kissed me too. Really, he did. I know I wasn’t imagining the way he smiled against my lips, or the gentle fingers that tangled in my hair and touched the skin on my neck. There’s no way I could have dreamed up the memory of his tongue sliding into my mouth and rubbing up against mine. God. I still get all shivery when I think about it. I know when we said goodbye that night it was with more kisses and shy smiles, looking back at each other over our shoulders a million times as we walked away. What I’ve never been able to figure out is what happened between that night and the next day.
    I’d been up all night grinning at the ceiling and spinning fantasies in my head about loving Noah forever but when I met him on the dock the expression on his face made my stomach clench in a knot.
    “What’s wrong?” I knew I didn’t want to hear his answer.
    “I’m not going to NYU anymore. I talked it over with my parents this morning and we all think it’s best.”
    “What? No! That was the plan. What about the plan? What about last night?” I was desperate and near tears. Noah looked distraught, like he couldn’t stand