Page 65 of Savage Heart

I feel a hand on my arm and turn. Iris is there, smiling up at me. I swallow hard.

“Thank you,” she whispers. “I think you’re beautiful too. I mean . . . well, yeah . . . beautiful.”

She laughs, and so do I, and when I put my hands on her waist, we both get serious real fast. I reach up and push the hair out of her eyes. It’s like silk in my fingers. I brush against her cheek, and her skin is even softer than her hair. She leans into my hand, and I take a step closer. Her face tilts up to mine, and I meet her the rest of the way, our lips connecting in the sweetest kiss. Her lips are the softest of all.

One second, two, three . . . our lips break apart, and we pull away to look at each other. Her eyes go wide, and she takes a step back.

“I can’t believe we just did that,” she says.

“Uh, me either,” I admit.

But instead of looking exhilarated, which is the way I feel, she looks terrified.

“You’re my best friend, Maverick. We probably shouldn’t—” She leaves the sentence hanging.

“Right. No. No, you’re right,” I finally say.

“I just don’t want to do anything to change us . . . I’d be crushed if anything came between us.”

“Me too. And it won’t,” I promise. “We won’t let it.”

In the spring, almost done with our senior year, I thought we were past the promposals, but they’re still popping up. Some have been goofy, some elaborate . . . and all of them make me wish I could ask Iris. We’re sitting together at lunch when Jeremiah gets on his knees, holding out a huge clay replica of a human heart for Samantha, and says, “Take my heart to prom.”

Iris covers her mouth, trying not to burst out laughing.

“What’s she gonna do—dance with it? Why does she even need Jeremiah if she’s got his heart?” I say under my breath, and Iris nudges me with her foot, laughing harder.

I grin at her, loving to make her laugh, and I nearly ask her then, but what she said back in the summer stops me. Those words have haunted me.

“What are you guys laughing at?” Lincoln says, flipping the chair next to Iris around and sitting in it backward.

“You missed a major promposal,” Iris says softly, her eyes dancing as she looks at me.

“Dang.” He glances at Jeremiah and Samantha. “What the fuck is that?”

“That’s Jeremiah’s heart,” Iris says, trying to keep a straight face.

Lincoln snorts, and then he leans over and puts his arm around Iris. “I’ve been thinking . . . you and I should go together. What do you say? We could dance the night away. You know we’ve got the moves. Maverick’s too good for dancing . . .” He laughs.

I have to force my eyes away from Iris to look at him.

“You should ask Zoey Samuels, Maverick,” he says. “That girl wants you bad.”

I think my mouth dropped when he asked Iris to prom. My chest is thumping, almost painfully. I look at Iris again, and she’s staring at me.

“Do you like Zoey?” she asks quietly.

“Yeah, she’s nice,” I say.

Iris nods. “She’s really nice. You should ask her.” She gives me a small smile and then looks at Lincoln. “You promise we’ll dance lots? No bailing with the football team when you get tired of dancing?”

“No bailing,” he promises.

She lifts a shoulder. “All right. I’ll go with you.”

He tugs her closer and smiles at me. “Hey . . . what are we doing for your birthday, Maverick?”

“I . . . don’t know.”