Chapter 26
“How was your weekend?” Kai pulls me into his arms.
“It sucked.” I groan. “I hate not seeing you. I miss you,” I tell him.
Each week that passes is even harder. We see each other in the morning and before he leaves school to go to work.
That makes about ten minutes a day. I can’t talk to him on the phone because my mom won’t let me use the house phone.
I know I’m a big disappointment, but she could make things a little easier for me so I don’t have to resort to sneaking out.
My life revolves around school and home.
That’s it.
I’m going crazy.
Thanksgiving is in a few days, and I thought by now I would be ungrounded. I don’t expect a new phone anytime soon, but the least my mom can do is unground me and let me get back to some kind of normalcy.
I worry Kai might get fed up and break up with me because it’s hard for us to hang out, and I’ve been grounded for most of the time we’ve been together.
“I miss you, too.”
“I applied for jobs on Saturday again. I haven’t heard back from any yet.
Hopefully, we’ll be able to live together soon.
” Applying for jobs at sixteen is harder than I thought.
Paige and I have both been applying, and no one has even asked us for an interview.
My mom keeps saying I should apply at a fast food place.
I’ve never wanted to work fast food. At this point, I might have to.
I thought stores would hire more help for the holidays, but it has yet to happen.
“That’s good,” he says with a smile. “Do you want to ditch today?”
After the cops caught me a second time, I’ve been too scared to do anything. I haven’t ditched since then. Deep down, I know I shouldn’t. At least this will give me the chance to talk to him about how I’ve been feeling.
“We can go get an ice cream cone from McDonalds. I know how much you like ice cream in the cold. Although it still makes no sense to me.” He chuckles.
The sound of ice cream makes my mouth water. Eating ice cream in cold weather somehow tastes better. Right now, it sounds better than it ever has before.
I giggle, grab his hand, and we walk out of the school.
Once we have our ice cream, I start feeling warm.
“Kai, it’s getting hot in the car.”
His eyes go wide. “B, we’re eating ice cream while it’s snowing outside. It’s cold. We need the heat.”
I wipe my forehead with the back of my hand as the heat blows at me. Tiny beads of sweat are forming all around my hairline and neck. I’ve never been this warm-blooded before, even when eating ice cream on a snowy day. But right now I feel like I’m heating up like an oven.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, why?” I lick my ice cream, trying to cool myself down.
Kai reaches over and turns the heat down to low. “You’re really red.”
“I told you I’m hot.”
“Why are you so hot? It’s not that hot in here. Especially with this ice cream.”
I pull the visor mirror down and look at myself. My face and chest are flushed. “I don’t know, but this ice cream is hitting the spot.”
Kai narrows his eyes at me, looking between me and the ice cream. “You really do like ice cream on a cold day.”
“Yup,” I say as I finish the last of my ice cream cone. “Does this bug you?” This has been on my mind so much, and I end up blurting out the question as if he knows what I’m thinking.
“Does what bug me?”
“Me always being grounded. Us not being able to see or talk to each other.”
“We still see each other at school.”
“For ten minutes. It’s only a hi in the morning and a bye when you leave for work.
That’s all—until the next day rolls around, obviously.
Then Friday comes around and we don’t see or speak to each other until Monday.
” I bite my lip, and my brows furrow with a worried expression as I glance outside the window and watch snowflakes drop onto the window and melt away.
“Hey,” he says and places his hand on my thigh. “What are you worrying about?”
Is he seeing someone else? Is that why it doesn’t sound like it bothers him? Am I just his high school girlfriend, and he has another one on the side?
“I feel like you’re going to get sick of me since I have all these rules I have to follow and you can do whatever you want.”
“Blakely.” He runs his hand down my face and wipes a tear.
My tears came out of nowhere; I’m not usually this emotional in front of people.
“You have nothing to worry about. I told you it’s us forever and ever.”
“You promise?” I ask, sniffling.
“Forever,” he repeats.
“And ever,” I say.