Buried the crush.
Buried the girl who waited for him to look her way again.
Yet here I am, staring at him as my pulse kicks up and my mouth goes dry.
Shaun’s gaze drags over me. Slow. Careful. Almost like he’s trying to figure out if I’m real.
This barn feels smaller with him in it. Warmer too. My skin buzzes like I’m standing too close to an electric fence.
Fantastic. A surprise high school reunion at the world’s saddest farm.
FOUR
BLAST FROM THE PAST
SHAUN
Valerie“The girlI ruined things with because I convinced myself she deserved better than me” Andrews.
The girl I wanted.
The girl I still want, based on my body’s reaction.
When my eyes finally meet hers, I watch the emotions flicker across her face in real time. Recognition first. Then confusion. Then something that hits harder. Hurt. Maybe anger. I earned either one.
Sunlight spills through the high barn windows and catches in her red hair. For a split second, my brain shuts off. Breathing feels optional. She’s still beautiful. Not polished. Not pristine. Real. And there’s something restless in her eyes now, like she’s carrying ghosts.
What the hell is she doing here?
Val was always meant for more. Top of the class. Headed somewhere big. She was going to cure diseases, discover something world changing, or invent a device to kick idiots in the balls. Idiots like me.
After one memorable afternoon, I avoided her the rest of senior year, acted like she didn’t exist because wanting her felt like crossing a line I didn’t deserve to touch. I haven’t seen her since graduation. Since I stood there and listened to her speech, proud and miserable all at once.
But she never really left my head.
The girl in front of me now isn’t the one I memorized back then. The neat braids. The perfect posture. The book glued to her hands. This Val looks sharper. Louder. Her hair hangs in loose braids, bangs framing her face and drawing my attention straight to her freckles and bright green eyes.
And the nose ring.
Flipping freaking flapjacks.
That damn nose ring does something to me. I want to touch it. Want to trace it with my thumb before my hand slides to her jaw, before I see if she tastes like my dreams.
I don’t even realize I’ve leaned forward until Drew’s elbow slams into my shoulder.
“It’s a real reunion now,” he mutters, grin thick in his voice.
I swat his hand away without looking at him. Of all the mistakes I’ve made, telling Drew I liked Valerie ranks high on the list.
Val moves past us and sits on a hay bale near the high school kid. The space she leaves feels wrong. Too empty.
My chest tightens.
She’s here.
I’m here.
She won’t look at me. Her focus stays forward, perched on the edge of the hay bale like she’s waiting for orders. The clothes are different, but the girl underneath hasn’t changed. I can still see it in the way she listens, alert and curious, like her brain’s already ten steps ahead of the room.