Time Between Us Read Free

eyebrows raised. “ Probably? Come on, he’ll do anything you ask. That boy has it bad for you.”
    “No, he doesn’t. I’ve known him since I was five. We’re just friends.”
    “And is he aware of this?”
    “Of course he is.” My parents and Justin’s have all known one another for years, and for most of them, he and I were inseparable. But things have changed. Justin Reilly used to feel like a comfortable pair of sweats, but now he’s more like a prom dress. Lovely but itchy.
    “Fine, then would you kindly ask your friend if he can score us Pearl Jam tickets?” She’s just about to get out of the car, but she stops, seeming to have had a new thought. “Wait, what if he can’t get them? Then what?”
    I stare at her. “Do you want to see Pearl Jam this summer, Em?”
    She nods. “Of course.”
    “And when was the last time you didn’t get what you wanted?”
    I wait while she thinks about it. Then she shrugs and smiles. “Am I that spoiled?”
    “No,” I lie. Emma gives me her puppy dog look, and I say, “Sometimes, but I love ya anyway,” and that gets a smile.
    Emma and I walk from the student lot to the side entrance. Inside, we stamp our feet on the doormat, watching as the heater above us melts the snow on our boots and makes it drip, and for the first time all morning, I have an opening. If I’m going to tell anyone what happened at the track, Emma is the one, and now is the time, but I don’t know where to start. How am I supposed to tell my best friend that a guy appeared out of thin air, smiled at me, and disappeared before my eyes, leaving me with nothing more than an impression of his butt and a nagging mystery to solve?
    “Em?”
    “Yeah?”
    “Can I tell you something…weird?” I look around to be sure no one can overhear me, because it’s one thing to tell your best friend that you may be losing your mind and another thing entirely for the news to catch fire and start making the loop.
    “Of course.”
    We walk toward our lockers and stop, but just as I open my mouth to tell her, Alex Camarian comes around the corner, wearing his basketball jacket and a huge grin, and throws his arm over Emma’s shoulder.
    He sticks his face between the two of us, and I hear him murmur into her ear, “Good morning, gorgeous.”
    “Ugh, Alex,” Emma says, giving him a small push but still egging him on with a half smile. “Can’t you see we’re having a conversation? What do you want?”
    Before he can answer her question, the first bell rings. “I’ll tell you what I want…” he says, pulling her to his chest, “…if you walk The Donut with me.”
    Emma looks at me. Then at Alex. Then down the circular hallway dubbed The Donut.
    She gives me another glance, this time asking silent permission, and I give her what I think is an encouraging smile as Alex offers her his arm. “May I?” His pseudo-sexy voice is matched by an earnest expression that makes him look like he’s trying out for the lead role in a cheesy soap opera, and I watch as she lets him thread his arm through hers and lead her away. She looks back at me with a shrug and a grimace, like she has no choice but to go with him, and mouths the words Later, okay?
    Maybe Alex’s intervention is a sign: if I am seeing disappearing guys, that information may best be kept to myself. I reach into my locker, grab books for my next three classes and a piece of gum for the road, and stand up.
    And that’s when I spot him. I freeze, staring at him like the apparition he must be. Dean Parker’s arm is draped over his shoulders in a fatherly way as he guides him through the hall, past the throng of students, pointing into doorways and calling his attention to the signs on the walls. Directing him to his first class on his first day at his new school.
    The new student. The one from California. A guy with dark shaggy hair—and there’s no question in my mind, the same guy I saw at the track.
    They pass right by me, neither one