The Space Between Heartbeats Read Free Page A

music blasting from the open window. And just my luck, Dale Finnigan is in the driver’s seat.
    His long curls hide the angry red scar that cuts across his face, a jagged line that starts just below his right eye and runs all the way down to his chin. As he draws closer, I see his fingers tapping out a rhythm on the steering wheel. He is completely lost in his music as he speeds past me. At the corner, his brake lights flash red. The sudden urge to call out and wave for him to stop courses through me, but he disappears before I can act on it. Even if he did notice me, there is no way he would ever offer me a ride. He hasn’t even looked at me in four months. And I can’t blame him, not after what I did.
    It happened a few weeks before school broke for the summer. I was rummaging through my locker when Dale approached.
    “Hey, Nicole.” He shot me that classic smirk of his, his scar bending to accommodate his smile. No one knew what happened to him, only that it happened before he started at our school that year. For some reason, I couldn’t help but want to run my finger down the raised pink line. Everything about it—everything about him —drew me in. His warm brown eyes, his quiet thoughtfulness, his air of mystery . . . I found him undeniably intriguing. But he was someone the old nice me would have liked, back when I was still Nicky. He hung out with my former friends, like Adam, Lisa, Jake, and Brody, the people who got good grades and ran for student council and volunteered on weekends. I’d left the old me behind, and Dale wasn’t someone the new popular Nicole could afford to be seen with.
    Dale handed me my phone. His fingers brushed mine and I tried to ignore the heat that spiked inside of me.
    “You left this in English last period.”
    “Oh, thanks . . . Darren?”
    He cringed so slightly I almost missed it. “Don’t worry, no one’s watching. You don’t have to pretend that you don’t know my name. We’re practically neighbors, after all.”
    I sighed and leaned against my locker. “Thank you, Dale. I was wondering where it was.”
    He shifted on his feet. “So, um . . . Spotify was still open and I know I shouldn’t have,” he said in a rush, “but I checked out your playlist. You have really great taste.”
    “You what?” My cheeks flamed. I didn’t even let my friends see what I listened to. There were only two things I really clung to from my past—my unique taste in music and my good grades. Even as I forced myself to change, I couldn’t let either of those things go. My new friends would never understand my obsession with either, which is why I kept it totally private. And now Dale knew and he . . . wait . . . he thought I had great taste?
    He fidgeted with the dog tags hanging around his neck. The words GRANITE—ROCK HARD were punched into them.
    “No way.” I leaned closer, studying the metal rectangles. “Where did you get these?”
    “Their reunion concert last year.” He grinned.
    I looked up. “The one at the Hollywood Bowl?”
    “Yeah.” His eyes sparkled. “My sister took me.”
    I stared at him in awe. “I really wanted to go to that. I can’t believe you like Granite.”
    He chuckled. “An obscure glam rock band from the nineties? What’s not to like?”
    I bit back a smile as I met his gaze. His eyes had flecks of gold I’d never noticed before, and he had the lightest dusting of freckles across the bridge of his nose. Suddenly, I realized how close we were standing. We looked almost . . . intimate. I let the tags go and stepped back. “I didn’t know anyone else our age had even heard of them before.”
    “Yeah, well, some of us have.” Dale shrugged, suddenly looking shy as he slid off the dog tags and held them out to me. “Do you want them?”
    I shook my head, completely taken aback by the offer. “What? No. I can’t take those from you. They’re epic.”
    “I know. That’s why I’m giving them to you.” He took my hand and dropped the