I make up my mind not to say anything. I am not the person with a single second of experience in this situation, so I’m just gonna follow her lead. We keep watching the movie, talking about how sweet Maria and Carol are together, agreeing on how cool it would be to have a Flerken. I take a quick second to grab us both something to drink and pull out the rest of the Starburst from the pantry. Saylor settles right back next to me and stays tight to my side through half another movie until we hear the garage door open and we realize there are Starburst wrappers all over the place.
Mom offers to drive Saylor home, and I think we both realize it might not be a good idea to have a romantic kiss goodbye right in front of my mom/her dentist. I tell Saylor I’ll text her later about a good time to do the tie-dye. She smiles and says okay.
After dinner, I’m still trying to catch my breath. I think I could kiss Saylor all day long. Her lips are really soft and she smells even nicer up close, but those aren’t the only things that have got me all messed up in the head. I just had my first kiss, and it was with Saylor Ford, and there’s a chance that Saylor Ford mightlikeme, like me. Even if it isjust a Stage One situation. I think she might like me. She must have really liked that cake. I take another deep breath and touch my cheeks. My face is still all hot. If I had known kissing was on the table, I might have tried to be friends with Saylor much sooner.
22
Saylor
I know I only have one good arm, but I’m ready to fight my mom.
“Will you just hold still?”
I huff out a deep breath and stop moving so Mom can take a picture of my cast. I was up half the night admiring Heaven’s handiwork, but that’s between me and the quiet of my bedroom.
“You know you don’t have to do this,” I reply.
“Of course I do. You come home from your museum trip with a walking piece of art on your body and you think I don’t want to document it?”
“Yeah, that’s great, but Heaven is going to be here any minute. And I want to finish getting ready.” And take like forty deep cleansing breaths so I can be calm when I see her again.
The kiss. Or kisses. They just sort of happened. I don’t know who started it, but I’ll take the blame and say I do not regret it at all. Afterward, I was too nervous to say anything. We shared such a good moment. Actually, we had such a good day, even after I stuck my foot in my mouthwith that friend comment. I didn’t want to blow it by saying anything else.
“I am pretty sure the mall will be there if you arrive thirty seconds after you planned. There. Done. You’re free.”
“Thank you.” I run to go put on my mascara and touch up my lip gloss, and definitely don’t almost fall on the stairs. The doorbell rings just as I finish getting ready. I give myself one last look in the mirror. The scrapes on my face still look really angry, but they are starting to heal. Luckily there’s a crate of Fosters Healing Ointment (#ad) on the way to help with my continued healing process. I roll my eyes at the ridiculousness of it all and grab my stuff.
When I get downstairs, Heaven is in the kitchen talking to my mom. I feel a wave of heat hit me when I see her standing at the island. I was literally with her yesterday, but it feels like it’s been forever since I’ve seen her.
“Heaven and I are just comparing notes,” Mom says, laughing.
“What does that mean?” I ask. I walk around the kitchen and look at their phones that are side by side on the counter. Mom’s showing Heaven the picture she took of my cast like Heaven wasn’t the one who decorated it. I glance over at Heaven’s phone and see another little Canva type presentation, similar to the one she made for our conversation with Miss Anita.
“May I?” I ask her.
“Yeah,” she says, handing me her phone. Our fingers brush and I know now is not the time, but I might have to ask her to marry me soon.
Anyway.
I look closer at the screen, reading the few sentences she wrote about the exhibits we saw. She included a picture of me looking at the giant comb in the modern art wing and a picture of the postcard I bought her.
“Since we have to do the time capsule if we want to clear the whole board—” Heaven starts to say.
“Which you should,” Mom interrupts. I try not to glare too hard at her and keep my focus on Heaven.
“I was thinking, I could make these for each square we finish and then we can make like a little book to put in the time capsule,” she goes on.
“That’s a great idea. We’ll have little mementos from the summer, but it’ll be nice to have it all documented in once place.”
“Please make a copy for me and Saylor’s dad. Or if you want, you can send me the file and I can have it printed. I have a great place I use for albums,” Mom says. Heaven glances at me and I just shrug and nod. Mom’s prints and albums are legendary among the moms at our school.
“Okay,” Heaven says. “I’ll get it over to you when we’re done.”
“Great. Before you girls run off, I have two things to ask Heaven. Well, a question and an idea. First, Saylor said I have to get your permission before I even think about posting anything Heaven related, so would you be okay with me posting the pictures of the cast on my Instagram? I’ll be sure to tag you.”
“Oh, uh, yeah that should be fine. I just started a newartist account, so yeah,” she says, looking over at me like she’s still a little unsure, before her fingers move across the phone screen. She pulls up her account and slides her phone back over to my mom, who quickly looks up her account on her own phone. It is her artwork so of course she should post it, but there’s this sharp pinprick that jabs at my chest. It feels weirdly possessive or jealous even. Like I haven’t even had a chance to talk to Heaven about if we’re anything more, if the kiss meant as much to her as it did to me, and here comes my mom trying to rope her into her nonsense schemes that I am currently trying to get away from.
“In two weeks Saylor’s sisters are having their midsummer slumber party. Truly the event of the summer,” Mom says, laughing at her own joke. “Wouldn’t it be great if Heaven came and did temporary tattoos for the girls?”