Page 74 of Ramona Blue

Tyler pulls Hattie in for a kiss, and Saul gives Ruth a kiss on the cheek before Reggie twirls him away and dips him, planting a kiss right on the lips. Adam looks to Ruth and the two high-five.

I turn to Freddie and I can’t help but see Christmas Eve play out all over again, when I told my mom we were just friends. Running my fingers over my wrist, I fiddle withthe evil-eye bracelet he gave me.

Then I step forward and slide my hands up both his arms. I can feel goose bumps forming as I do. Freddie’s eyes are wide but steady on my every movement.

I take another small step forward and I kiss him. I kiss Freddie in a room full of all the people I love most. It’s my way of telling him he’s not a secret. He is not a phase.

Freddie kisses me back, one hand sinking into my hair and the other wrapping around my waist and up my spine as his lips softly melt into mine. For a moment, my body melts against his, and it’s easy to ignore the deafening silence around us.

JANUARY

TWENTY-NINE

“Well, add that to the list of shit I thought I’d never see,” Saul says.

A door slams shut behind us, and we both pull apart at the same time.

I glance around to find an array of responses staring back at us. Tyler: blank. Hattie: smug. Adam and Reggie: delighted confusion. And Saul: total surprise.

“Ruth,” I breathe.

Freddie tells me with his eyes to go find her, and I nod.

I don’t have to go far. She’s sitting there on the steps a few feet from Saul’s front door.

She eyes me over her shoulder. “Just needed some air.”

“Can I join you?” I ask.

She shrugs.

But I take it; knowing her it’s the closest thing to an invitation I’ll get. “Saul and Reggie seem good together,” I say. “Really happy.”

She cuts to the chase. “So you and Freddie?”

I nod. “Yeah.”

She exhales. “I guess that turned out to be more than a one-time hypothetical thing.”

I pull my knees to my chest. “You think I’m making a mistake.”

“No. Yes. I don’t know.”

I laugh. “Well, that’s encouraging.”

She shakes her head. “Friendship turned romance is like the breeding ground of mistakes. But not because he’s a boy. I don’t think so at least. I mean, it’s not like he magically turned you straight or something.”

I practically snort. “Yeah. No shot of that happening.”

Ruth groans. “I feel so stupid.”

She blinks and a tear rolls down her cheek. After wiping it away, she rips the headband Saul finally forced upon her off her head.

I get it. I understand why Ruthie is upset. Saul just left home. I’m... making out with a boy. It’s a lot of unforeseen change all at once.

“I don’t even like you.” She laughs. “In any other town we would have never been friends.”

“But this isn’t any other town.”