Chapter 21 Collins #3
It was starting to weigh on me—box after box full of things from my life going into a pile that would end up at the dump. My shoulders slumped. “How about a break?” I asked Brady. “I need a boost—maybe a little photosynthesizing.”
“Sure,” he said.
We went upstairs and out my parents’ back door. The sun was shining through the clouds, and the ground was wet. There were dark storm clouds on the horizon, so I knew that this sun spot wouldn’t last very long.
I stopped in the sun’s path and closed my eyes, but I needed even more warmth.
I kept walking toward where I knew the sun would hit with full force—the trampoline.
Brady must’ve noticed what my destination was because he picked up the pace—fully started running toward the trampoline at the back of the yard.
He flung himself onto it and started bouncing. His smile took up his entire face as he jumped up and down. “You’re goofier than I thought you’d be when we first met,” I called to him.
“Sorry I wasn’t very carefree when you maced me,” he said back.
When I got closer to the trampoline, I held up my hands to my face like I was holding my camera and pushed down on the imaginary button with my index finger, taking a mental picture that I would store away.
That familiar urge to remember a moment, which had been dormant for so long, seemed to spark every time I was with Brady lately.
“Bounce with me,” Brady said.
“Fine,” I said as I stepped onto the trampoline, “but if you double-bounce me, I swear to god I will end you.”
“No promises, trouble.” Brady grinned. I rolled my eyes.
It had been actual years since I’d jumped on this trampoline, and I’d forgotten how it felt to be suspended in the air for half a second before my feet hit the stretchy black surface. I kept my face toward the sun and let muscle memory take over.
“I love this,” I said. “I feel so content.”
“No, really,” Brady said. “I should come over here every time I’m stressed.”
“What do you get stressed about?” I asked, facing him instead of the sun now, but with the grin still wide and bright on his face, it was basically the same thing.
“Everything, all the time,” he said.
“Give me a little more.”
“I don’t know,” Brady started. “Like when you told me I was wasting my fresh start.”
“I never said that,” I protested.
“Maybe not exactly, but you implied it.” Brady grinned. “I haven’t felt as…wary about that recently.”
“Recently?” I asked.
“You’ve had a mostly positive effect on me,” he said.
“You’re the first person to ever say that.”
Our jumps brought us close enough together that I landed on Brady’s feet when I came back down, and both of us ended up flat on our backs laughing. I watched Brady’s chest move with his laugh and the crinkles around his eyes deepen as he smiled.
When he looked over at me, his eyes were soft. I felt safe in them.
Brady turned his body, reached over, and gently cupped my cheek. “It all feels right.” My breath caught in my throat, and I didn’t even register the thunderclap until the rain started soaking my skin.
“Oh my god,” I laughed. “Wyoming: where the weather can turn on a dime.”
But Brady continued to stroke my cheek, and I let my hand come to his waist. “Has anyone ever kissed you here, Collins?” he asked. I watched the rain soak his dark hair and drip down his face.
When I shook my head, Brady’s thumb brushed over my lip, and he leaned closer. I met him halfway.
He knotted his fingers in my hair gently, and I pushed my body into his.
This was different from last night. That was slow, exploratory.
This…this was urgent. I moved my hands up and down his body—over his chest, shoulders, and arms. I couldn’t be close enough to him.
I loved the way he pulled my waist into his hips.
When his tongue pressed against my mouth, I opened for him.
I reveled in the heat building between us. It kept me warm from the rain. I noticed the way he handled me with care and how he held me like I was precious to him.
Brady’s hand moved from my hair, down my back, to the back of my thigh, and I used that as a chance to hitch my leg over him. A low moan came from his throat. I moved my hand to the waistband of his jeans and slipped it under his shirt.
Had I always liked kissing this much? I didn’t know. I didn’t think so, but I liked this. A lot. I liked the way his body felt against mine, and the feeling of his tongue inside my mouth.
“God,” Brady groaned against my mouth. “You’re perfect.
” I didn’t quite agree with that, but I knew this moment was.
He gently used his body to push me back so he was on top of me, shielding me from the rain.
I brought the hand under his shirt to his back and dug into his skin with my nails.
Brady’s hips rolled into mine, and I gasped.
More. I needed more.
He kept himself hovering over me with one hand and dragged the other up my abdomen and between my breasts until his hand rested on the side of my neck.
Brady pulled back and rested his forehead against mine. His chest was heaving. “I forgot to breathe,” he said. “You’re so good that I forgot to breathe.”
My lips stretched into a smile. “Careful,” I said. “I might let that go to my head.”
Brady kissed me again and then pulled back. “I think you should—let it go to your head. I think you should be aware of how amazing you are, Collins.”
I didn’t want to think about what that meant or where this could go. I just wanted to be here—in this landscape of old memories as the rain watered the seeds of new ones.
Instead of responding—instead of telling him what he was starting to mean to me, I just gripped him by his hoodie and pulled his mouth back down to mine.