By Your Side(50)

“That’s good. So good.” Six more days until I could see him for myself. I could handle six more days.

I held my camera up to my eye and twisted the outside ring back and forth, making Owen go from blurry to clear over and over again.

“You’re not taking my picture, are you?” he asked from his spot on the couch next to me.

“Don’t worry, diva. I know you like to do your hair first.”

He pointed the remote at the television and clicked it off. “Actually, not for your pictures. You have a way of capturing things that looks good every time.”

I was caught off guard by the compliment. “Thanks.”

“I’m serious. Is that what you’re thinking for college? Photography?”

“No. Not at all. It’s too . . .”

“Risky?”

“Yes.”

“And what’s wrong with risk? What’s wrong with going after the uncertain choice? The one you haven’t planned to a T.”

“You know what’s wrong with that. It would stress me out too much. I need security.”

He reached out for my camera and I handed it to him. He put it up to his eye and took a picture, then looked at the result on the screen with a sour face. “All I’m saying is you have talent.”

“You’re my favorite brother.”

“Always.”

I collected my camera back from him.

“I thought you’d be at the hospital today,” he said.

I groaned, trying not to think about it. “Today is Avi’s day.”





CHAPTER 33


“Jeff talked to you?” I asked, still not believing it. Why wasn’t Avi jumping up and down like I wanted to? Why hadn’t she called us all last night? “This is amazing news!” Relief poured through me.

Avi opened her bag of chips, then shrugged. “Has he not done that before?”

The four of us—Lisa, Morgan, Avi, and I—were sitting together in the cafeteria. The boys were at some baseball lunch meeting. I had stopped eating the moment she shared the news.

“What did he say?”

“Not much. Just hi and asked how long he’d been there.”

I tried to control the tiny bit of jealousy that Jeff had talked to Avi first, that I had missed it, and focus on the huge amount of joy that he had talked at all. “Did you tell his mom?”

“Was I supposed to?”

“No, it’s fine. I’m sure she knows. Whose turn is it today?” Instead of waiting for an answer, I pulled out my phone and referred to Dallin’s text.

“Zach’s,” Morgan said at the same time I read it.

“You think Zach will switch with me?” I asked.

“Probably not,” Avi said.

I groaned. Why had I turned over the scheduling power to Dallin in the hospital? I was trying to be nice, but it hadn’t made a difference.

Lisa squeezed my arm. “Do you want me to talk to Dallin?” All my friends thought Dallin was being unreasonable too.

“No.” Because if I were being honest, there was still a bit of fear in me that Jeff really didn’t care about seeing me. We weren’t together, we never had been. What made me think I was so special?

I had passed Dax in the hall after lunch and slipped him a note. A note that had told him to meet me between sixth and seventh period where I now stood—behind the cafeteria. I hadn’t anticipated the Dumpsters and the stench they’d be emitting.

Dax rounded the corner, his stride slow and confident. He looked at the trash when he got to me and raised his eyebrows.

“I was hoping you could help me find my retainer. I think it got thrown away.”

The pleasant look dropped off his face. “Really?”

I laughed. “No.”

He smiled.

I grabbed onto the lapels of his jacket and pulled him a little closer to me.

“Hi,” he said in a low voice.

“Hi,” I sighed.

“Do you even wear a retainer?” he asked.

I flashed a wider smile. “Only at night. What about you? Did you ever have braces?”

“That wasn’t exactly top priority for any of my foster parents.”

“Well, then you got lucky, because you have very pretty teeth.”

He shrugged. “You haven’t looked close enough, then.”

I tilted my head and he gave me a fake smile that made me laugh. His front two teeth overlapped a little and his bottom ones were a bit more crooked, but they weren’t distracting at all. “I was right, very pretty.”

He took a fistful of either side of my sweater at my waist and said, “You’re not a very good liar.”

His hold made me feel light on my feet, like I wasn’t quite touching the ground. I braced myself with my palms against his chest. “Then you must not be good at reading me anymore because I’m not lying. I, on the other hand, am excellent at reading you. Just like in that game of rock, paper, scissors we played. Read you like a book.”

He laughed. “I’ll work on my poker face.”

“You should come over today after school.”

“To your house?”

“Yes, my brother is in town. I think you’d like him.”