One Day Soon (One Day Soon, #1)(80)

He brushed a piece of hair off my face, his thumb caressing the curve of my cheek. “You’re seventeen years old, Imi. You’re too young to think like that.”

Neither of us said any more. I went back to looking through trinkets and Yoss wandered over to a table towards the back, sifting through piles of old comic books and Christmas decorations.

“You have got to be kidding me!” Yoss exclaimed a few minutes later.

I walked over to where he was standing by a table. He held his hand out. “Look at what I just found. I think this might be some kind of sign. What for, I don’t know. But seriously, this is amazing!” he enthused.

I took a peek at what had him so excited. It didn’t look like much. A tarnished silver chain with a red pendant made of chipped ceramic. Nothing that could warrant his reaction.

I gave him an amused look. “It just looks like a necklace to me.”

Yoss held it up, dangling it between his fingers. I noticed that the red charm was actually a strange looking figure with limbs askew in awkward positions. “I don’t get it. Sorry, Yoss.”

“It’s from the cover!” He grinned, wrapping his fingers around it in a tight fist.

“Huh?” I asked dumbly.

“Catch-22. Joseph Heller. Come on, I know you get it.” He spoke in rapid-fire sentences. He lifted my heavy curtain of hair up and laid it over my shoulder. Then he clasped the necklace that seemed to make him so excited around my neck. The red man fell below the hollow of my throat.

It wasn’t a particularly pretty piece of jewelry by any means.

“I know what Catch-22 is. It’s not like you’d let me forget it.” Yoss rolled his eyes. I touched the charm on the chain. It was scratched and a piece of the foot was missing. It had definitely seen better days. “Is this crazy little guy on the cover?” I asked.

He traced his finger along the curves of the red trinket lying on my chest. I shivered. I felt him everywhere, even though he wasn’t touching me. “I remember seeing the book in the library once. After Mom died. It was just a blue cover with this weird looking red guy at the bottom. My dad, who was in an unusually good mood, had pointed at it and told me that it had been my mother’s favorite book. That she was always quoting from it when they were dating. And when I was born she had insisted on naming me Yossarian, even though my dad wanted to name me something boring like George. Mom won, because Dad could never say no to her.” Yoss’s smile became pained. He cupped the side of my neck, his thumb still rubbing the chain.

“What a random find,” I mused, reaching behind my neck to take it off.

“Don’t. I’ll buy it for you,” he insisted, pulling money from his pocket.

“You don’t need to spend money on me—”

“I want you to have it, Imi. I want you to keep it and wear it and that way you’ll always have a little piece of me,” Yoss said.

I let him pay for the necklace. And I wore it always. Never taking it off.

Even years later, after he left me, I couldn’t part with it.

It was my only link to a memory that wouldn’t fade.



“It looks good on you,” Yoss mused, rolling onto his side, propping his head up in his hand. He ran his finger along the tarnished chain at my throat.

I was on my back, staring up at the high, vaulted ceiling, trying to ignore the constant din of noise around us.

“I love it,” I said, turning my head to look at him. His face was so close to mine, our noses almost touching. My stomach rumbled and I felt faintly nauseated from the hunger, but I didn’t complain.

Yoss leaned in, putting his lips on mine. The hunger in my belly was replaced with a thousand flutters.

Someone yelled profanities followed by a crash. The shattering of glass. But his lips stayed on mine.

My hand moved up into his hair. It had gotten long, almost to his shoulders. My mouth opened and I felt his tongue sweep inside. We pressed against each other, my leg going up and over his hip. His hands were on my back, holding me as close as possible.

Yoss kissed me harder, his tongue insistent. I moaned deep and low, feeling a stirring deep down. A warmth that could easily become a raging fire.

He rolled me onto my back and he fit himself between my legs, never breaking the kiss. My heart was hammering in my chest, both exhilarated and hesitant by how fast things were starting to move.

Yoss could be a physically demonstrative guy, but there had always been boundaries to our intimacy. I knew that he loved me. He showed me in ways that left no room for doubt. But as much as I wanted to take our relationship to that level, he had been careful to never go that far.

So I was surprised by his aggressiveness. And while I welcomed it, something about it bothered me.

But my hormones silenced any thoughts I had.

Yoss’s hand slid up my shirt, touching bare skin. I shivered. He trembled. His fingers were unsure as he pushed up my bra and cupped my breast for the first time.

I had made it to second base a time or two in the past, but this felt different. Because with Yoss everything was different.

“God, Imi,” he moaned into my mouth, biting down on my bottom lip. Not hard. Just enough.

I pulled his shirt up and over his head so that his bare skin was there for me to touch. I ran my hands over every inch. I tried not to cringe away from the feel of rough scars beneath my fingers.