15. Andrea

CHAPTER 15

Andrea

I 'm still holding Naomi's hand when we make it back out to the road. I use my other hand to push the last few stalks of corn out of our way, and as soon as my feet touch the strip of dried-out dirt that runs between the edge of the field and the side of the road, I squeeze my palm extra tight around hers to remind us both this isn't some heatstroke-induced dream.

This is real.

I really told her I like her. I really asked her out on a date, and maybe getting tangled up in whatever's happening between us is the exact opposite of what I'm supposed to be doing this summer, but it's just like I told her: the second she took off running, I knew I had to run after her.

I knew I needed her to know I was as close to kissing her last night as she was to kissing me.

Sparks shoot up and down my arm, radiating from our joined hands, and I fight the urge to stop and just kiss her here and now. It's stupid and cheesy, but I can't help thinking Naomi Waters is the kind of person you kiss at sunset or midnight or in the pouring rain, when the world looks as magic as being with her feels.

Then again, I was full prepared to kiss her while floating around in an inner tube in a hot tub, but still, it was raining.

"Is that…another car?"

Naomi comes to a halt so fast I get jerked back beside her. We popped out of the field a few meters down from the van. I look over and see the hint of another car parked in front of the van.

We jog the rest of the way up to the vehicles and find Shal and Priya talking to an old woman with frizzy grey hair who's wearing a sundress and passing around a bag of what looks like trail mix. They all turn at the sound of our approach, and I notice Shal and Priya's eyes widen when they spot my hand clutching Naomi's. I give Naomi a quick glance and squeeze her palm one last time before I let go.

"We were wondering when you'd make it back," Shal says, her voice laced with a suggestive note. "Meet our new friends, Mary and Bobby."

The woman with the trail mix waves, and a balding guy I didn't even realize was here pokes his head up above the hood of the van to say hello.

"They have a tire changing kit," Shal says. "They passed by on their way to the rest stop and offered to help."

"We're saved!" I say, leading the way over to the others. "That's amazing. Thank you so much."

"No problem, sweetie," Mary answers. "Want some trail mix?"

We spend the next fifteen minutes eating trail mix and pretending the lingering tension between Priya and Naomi isn't thick enough to choke on. Our rescuers refuse any offers of buying them lunch at the rest stop, and once they've driven off, we're left standing in silence.

I'm about to offer to take a walk or sit in the van to give them some privacy when Naomi clears her throat and looks straight at Priya.

"You're right," she says.

Priya shakes her head, her expression pinched. "Naomi, I shouldn't have—"

"No, I get it," Naomi cuts in. "I get why you didn't tell me about the guy at music school. I get why you wanted something that was just for you. I…I've been so scared, and I've taken things way too personally when really I should have just been excited for you. You shouldn't have to be the rock all the time. Not to me. Not to anyone."

Priya's eyes get all shiny before she rasps the words, "Thank you."

I've never had a conversation like this with a friend. I've never had a friend like this at all. I filled up my life in Montreal with so many people, but I've barely thought about any of them since I left. I never got to know them well enough to feel like we could depend on each other—or let each other down.

They were just people to pass the time with, people to laugh with or go on drives with or peer pressure into singing along with me while I played guitar. I didn't have to worry about disappointing them because that's all they saw me as too: some fun and nothing more.

"I don't want you to have to feel like that anymore, Priya," Naomi says. "You're not a sidekick. You deserve people in your life who can celebrate your wins, and I want to be one of them. I promise I'll do better. I promise I'll be there for you too, even when it's scary or hard for me, because you being happy is one of the best things in the world, even when it's some random saxophonist dude with bad dance moves making you smile."

Priya lets out a watery laugh as a few of her tears manage to escape and slide down her cheeks.

"He plays trumpet," she says in a choked voice, "and his moves were not that bad."

She lifts her arms in a tentative invitation, and Naomi hesitates for a second before rushing into the hug. My chest aches as I watch them squeeze each other and sway back and forth.

For some reason, I can't stop thinking about all the times I've apologized to my mom for one thing or another and how I always waited for that moment when she'd tell me everything was okay, when she'd lift her arms just like Priya did and wait for me to run into them.

Only she never did. Hugs were for when I got things right, not when I got them wrong.

I hear Priya sniffle before she pulls back enough to look at Naomi.

"I didn't mean t-to call you p-pathetic. I'm so sorry. I don't think that at all. I was just hurt, and I shouldn't have said it."

Naomi shakes her head and makes a shushing sound. "It's okay."

"You're my best friend, and I never want that to change. Me wanting other friends, or even a…a boyfriend doesn't mean you mean anything less to me."

"I know." Naomi shifts her hands up to grip Priya's shoulders. "Sometimes it's hard for me to stop worrying about stuff like that, but I know now, and I want you to have everything you want."

I hear another sniffle and look over to see Shal is trying to blink back tears too.

"Thank you," Priya says again. "That's everything I needed to hear. I'm…I'm so sorry I told everyone about your…that you…"

She glances over at me and then back at Naomi. My heart pounds as I wait for Naomi's reaction. A couple seconds pass, and then she turns her head to beam at me.

My breath catches. Even in her adorable pickle pajamas, I don't think she's ever looked cuter than she does right now.

"Well, I'm glad you did," she answers Priya without taking her eyes off me.

I'm about to say screw it all and run over to yank her off Priya so I can kiss her in the middle of this road, but Shal breaks the spell of the moment by marching over to the driver's side door and yanking it open.

"Do you want to get freaking married in this corn field, or can I finally get my damn Slushie?"

The shrill screams of people shooting down dozens of massive water slides ring out above the pop song blaring through the park's sound system. Water drips off my bikini to darken the concrete under my feet. I shiver as a wisp of cloud drifts across the sun to cast us in shadow where we're standing in line for one of the most popular rides in the park.

Naomi notices and turns from where she's been caught in a debate with Shal and Priya about when we should go get lunch at the food court.

"Cold?" she asks.

I rub my hands up and down my arms. "Just a little."

‘A little' is an understatement. We've been waiting in line in our soaked bathing suits for so long my teeth are chattering.

"Oh no," Naomi says, her forehead creasing when I fail to clench my jaw hard enough to keep her from hearing the rattle of my teeth. "Here, let me help."

She steps closer and grips my arms so she can start rubbing me too. My body floods with warmth in a split second—not from the friction, but from how close she's standing in nothing but a cute little two piece while her palms slide over my skin.

I'd call her out for pulling a smooth move on me, but when I see her eyes flare as they lock on mine, I realize she's just as shocked by the intensity of the heat building between us. She blinks, and I watch the flutter of her pale eyelashes.

"Okay, we get it. You're a thing now. No need for the excessive PDA."

I look over Naomi's shoulder and see Shal making a show out of rolling her eyes, but she can't stop herself from smiling. Priya is biting back a grin too as she shifts her gaze around the park like she's trying not to stare at us.

Naomi coughs and drops her hands to her sides. There's already a flush creeping up her neck as she steps away from me and tucks her hair behind her ears.

"Andrea was just cold." Her defensive tone makes her sound way guiltier than she is.

The fact that she can't meet anyone's eyes right now doesn't help her case.

Shal looks up at the cloud still draped across the sun. "Honestly, I'm getting cold too, and this line has not moved for at least five minutes, which is why I think we should just try again after lunch."

"We did make it all the way from there to here," I say, pointing over my shoulder at the distant end of the line, "and the line might be even longer after we eat."

Priya wraps her arms around her stomach. "I am really hungry. I almost grabbed that kid's fries when he walked by."

Shal laughs. "I would pay to see you actually try that. Looks like Naomi is the deciding vote here, though."

We all turn to Naomi. She scans the length of the line all the way up to the slide while hemming and hawing like she's trying to get out of making a decision.

"I mean, we are a lot closer now…" she says, "but then again, it has been a long time…"

Shal snorts. "Very helpful. Look, how about this? Pri and I go eat since we're the hungriest, and if you're still in line when we're done, we'll rejoin you."

We all decide that seems like a good idea. I watch Shal sling an arm around Priya's shoulders as they head off towards the food court and then look back to see Naomi staring at them all misty-eyed.

"It's probably good for them to get some time alone," she says, wiping the wistful look off her face once she notices me watching her. "I know they said they talked before those people with the tire kit showed up, but they can't have had very long together."

I nod. "If you want time with Priya too, no worries. I know today has been pretty…intense for you two."

She chuckles as we finally shuffle another couple feet up the line.

"Yeah, that's one way to put it. I'm sure we'll talk more soon, but it feels good to be okay for now." She takes a deep breath and lets her shoulders slump with relief. "I really thought I was going to lose her, you know? I'm not really good at the whole knowing what to say thing, which is ironic considering all I do is read books, and people always know what to say in books. You'd think it would have helped me, and…and now I'm rambling. I…"

I step closer to her, and she trails off into silence. A fresh wave of heat crests over my skin.

"You know, I think you underestimate yourself, Naomi." I pause for a moment, savoring the thrill I get from saying her name.

It hits me then that I never thought twice about the hundreds of times I called Nick by name, but every time Naomi's name is on my tongue, it tastes like magic.

I shake my head to clear it before I can start considering what that might mean and how it's definitely not the way you're supposed to feel about a temporary summer fling.

"You might not think you're good at knowing what to say, but you did smooth talk your way into saving a friendship and scoring a date in less than half an hour. Even I can't say I've ever managed a feat like that."

I've moved even closer now, close enough to notice the way her breathing quickens.

"I don't think anyone would call me a smooth talker," she murmurs, "but if I'd known running blindly into a corn field would result in you asking me out, I would have done it a lot sooner."

I raise my eyebrows and bump my shoulder against hers. "You see? That's the smooth talking I'm talking about. I think you're secretly a sly fox, Naomi."

She lets out a full-on donkey snort and then clamps her hand over her mouth. It's maybe the cutest thing I've ever heard, and I'm about to tell her that when a scuffle of movement up ahead interrupts me.

A group of about twenty kids and adult chaperones from what I assume is a summer camp have all stepped out of line. The kids moan complaints about having to take a lunch break as the adults march them past us. The rest of the line rushes to fill the empty space, and Naomi and I get bumped all the way up to the base of the staircase leading to the top of the slide.

It's one of the slides you ride an inflatable raft down, and a guy in a staff t-shirt who looks about our age is handing them out from a pile at the bottom of the steps.

"You ladies want a two-seater?" he asks.

I glance at Naomi for confirmation and then nod. The guy hauls down a black raft with two hollows for seats and two sets of plastics handles lining the sides.

"Have fun!" he says once I've grabbed one of the handles and shifted the raft up onto the stairs.

I watch Naomi as she cranes her neck to stare up at the top of the slide. The ride is a long, black and orange tube with more loops and bends than I can count. It's not the steepest slide in the park, but the sign at the foot of the staircase says it's officially the longest.

"You ready for the ride of your life?" I joke as a flare of adrenaline shoots through me when a particularly loud scream echoes from high above our heads.

Naomi shivers. "Let's hope so."

It takes another fifteen minutes for us to get all the way to the top of the stairs. There's another staff guy getting people prepared at the entrance to the slide. He guides the pair of kids in front of us into their two-seater raft and grips the backrest to hold the raft in place as he watches the pool of water way down at the very bottom of the slide. Once the previous raft comes shooting out, he tells the kids it's time to go and shoves their raft through the mouth of the tube.

They shriek so loud I wince. I turn to see Naomi's eyes tracing the twists and turns of the slide as she grimaces.

"Come on," I say. "We've got this."

Excitement is shooting through my veins and making me jitter and bounce on the balls of my feet. I haul our raft over to lay it down in the flat section at the start of the ride. The staff guy holds it in place while I ask Naomi if she wants the front or the back.

"Definitely the back," she answers, her steps a little wobbly as she comes over to join me.

We get ourselves settled in the seat hollows, and my heart pounds even harder when I realize how close we are. Her legs are basically slung over my shoulders. If I sat up a little straighter, she could probably wrap them around my chest.

I look behind me and see she's gone from looking grim to queasy. Her face is pale, and she's gripping the handles so hard her knuckles are turning bright white.

I release one of my handles to squeeze her leg.

"Don't worry. I've got y—"

I don't have time to finish my sentence before the guy is shouting instructions to keep our hands and feet inside the raft at all times. I barely have a chance to grip the handle before he yells it's time to go and shoves us into the dark tube.

My scream turns into an exhilarated laugh as we fly through the first few turns, the raft sloshing up the sides of the tube and jerking us around so hard my stomach drops. The orange sections of the slide let some daylight through, but the black ones turn everything so dark I can't even see my toes stretched out in front of me.

The slide coils through a series of tight loops that have Naomi screaming about us flipping and dying while I just shriek with more laughter.

Before today, I hadn't been down a water slide since I was in the sixth grade, and now I already want to come back every weekend. I forgot how something as simple as careening down a giant slide at top speed can make your whole body burn with the incendiary joy of just how damn good it feels to be alive.

The track evens out for a bit, forcing our raft to slow down a fraction. I hear Naomi sucking in deep breaths over the sound of the rushing water.

"You good?" I shout, turning my head so the words don't get lost in the tunnel.

"THIS IS CRAZY!" she screams back.

I laugh again. We're about to hit another bend and head into a pitch-black section of the slide, but thinking about the last time I was at a water park—specifically, on a school field trip with a bunch of other daredevil twelve year-olds—gives me an idea.

"Watch this!" I yell before I lift my feet up in a wide straddle and brace them against the sides of the slide.

The water shooting past us tries to keep tugging the raft forward, but I press the soles of my feet harder against the slippery sides of the slide until I finally force the raft to a complete stop.

"Andrea! What the hell are you doing?" Naomi shrieks from behind me.

"What?" I demand. "You never tried this as a kid?"

I crane my neck around to face her with my feet still up in the air and see she's leaned forward in her seat, her face just inches from mine. Her eyes are bugging out of her head, and she's still got a death grip on the handles.

"Of course not! We're supposed to keep our hands and feet inside! They're going to freak out when we don't come out of the slide soon!"

I want to tease her about following the rules, but she's so close I forget everything I was about to say. Her damp hair has been whipped into a tangled mess, and her face is still pale with terror, but none of that makes her any less pretty.

She's just so damn pretty.

The thrill-seeking chemicals flooding my brain can't think about anything else, not with her mouth so close to mine. It doesn't matter that I'm twisting my neck around at what I'm sure is a very unattractive angle. It doesn't even matter that I'm fully spread-eagled to hold us in place in the slide.

I want to kiss her.

I've wanted to kiss her for weeks, and sure, the middle of a giant water slide is not exactly a prime location, but my heart is pounding so loud I can't hear the roar of the water anymore, and every beat makes me more sure of one thing than I've ever been of anything else in my life: I can't go another second without knowing what it feels like to have her lips pressed to mine.

I watch as the terror starts to leave her eyes. Her pupils darken, her bottom lip dropping open as her gaze flicks to my mouth and then back up to meet my stare.

"Naomi," I say, the blood rushing in my ears so loud now I can barely hear my own voice. "I want you to kiss me."

If I shift back any further, I'm going to lose my grip on the sides of the slide.

She's the one who will have to make the first move here.

She jerks back with surprise, but after blinking at me a couple times, a look of determination so cute it would make me laugh if it weren't also somehow incredibly sexy takes over her face.

She leans back in towards me, hunching forward until her mouth is hovering just a breath away from mine.

I can feel the warmth of her lips already. My eyes drift shut on instinct. I squeeze the raft handles so hard my fingers ache.

She still doesn't close the gap between us. I'm about to squint at her through my lashes to see if everything is okay when she takes a sharp breath and then presses her mouth to mine.

The whole water slide disappears. Everything fades out of existence like we've shot into one of pitch-black sections of the tube.

There's nothing but the pillowy softness of her lips as they brush mine. I don't think I've ever kissed a mouth even half as soft as hers. Somewhere deep in my chest, a rich, resonant note rings out, like Naomi is a tuning fork and I'm singing her own sound back to her in perfect harmony.

Only it's not just her sound. It's mine too. It bubbles up from some boxed up part of me I buried long before I met her.

I'm kissing a girl. I'm kissing a girl who knows this moment is more than a joke or some booze-fuelled misadventure we'll laugh off and try to forget.

I'm kissing a girl who isn't afraid to show me she wants to kiss me back.

She wants me.

This girl is one of the kindest, smartest, most amazing people I've ever met, and she wants to be kissing me.

My whole body goes weak at the thought.

Which, of course, makes my feet slip.

We both yelp and pull away from each other as the raft inches forward. I dig my heels in as hard as I can, but the water has regained too much of a hold on us now.

"Hold on!" I yell just before I drop my legs.

We scream as we shoot forwards and get plunged into complete darkness, but we're laughing hysterically within a few seconds.

Even when we're whipping along so fast the air gets sucked out of my lungs and my face gets dashed with water splashing up from the sides of the raft, I can still feel the ghost of Naomi's lips on mine. I have to fight not to let go of the handle and risk dumping myself out of the tube just to brush my fingertips over my mouth.

My body is still vibrating with that pitch-perfect note. I don't know what it means. I don't know what's happening here, and I sure as hell don't know how to stop it, but for now, I just do what I told Naomi to do.

I hold on.