“Something tells me you’re scared to be alone with me.” His breath buzzed through my hair as he spoke; he was that close.
“It’s not that,” I began. “It’s just…” He moved in front of me, placing his hands on my arms and stopping me in place.
“It’s okay, Joclyn. I know. It took me a while to realize you were worth more than my father’s commands, too.” His face filled with a happy light that made my heart spin in pure joy. Ryland leaned down before I could stop him and placed his lips against my cheek.
I was overcome with his smell as his lips lingered there, the warmth of them spreading throughout me and making me dizzy. Far before I was ready, he ran away from me, running to catch up to Wyn and leaving me sputtering alone in the middle of the hall.
Ten
The fire pit was in a large clearing that you could only get to by parking off the side of the road and hiking for about twenty minutes through uncut forest. Some time ago, someone had dug a giant hole in the middle of the space, giving people a reason to call it the fire pit. I never knew how Ryland found this place, but I knew we weren’t the only ones who came here. Every once in a while, we would come across crumpled chip wrappers or beer cans.
Ryland led us as we trudged our way through the undergrowth, pie in hand. I could smell the delicious chocolate fragrance drifting back to me, and it made my stomach jump in anticipation.
I stayed back by Wyn, thankful for her company. After what Ryland had said to me as we were leaving the drama room, I didn’t need to be alone with him. I needed to think—and somehow prepare myself for Saturday night.
We entered the clearing and I went to go look for firewood. The cool mountain air was already starting to get a bite to it and being this far up the mountains, it was sure to get chilly quickly.
The clearing was surrounded by what appeared to be a perfect circle of giant oak trees. They all had to have been planted at the same time because each one was about the same height. They towered over us as we walked through them, much taller than the smaller beech and brush oak that lay behind them. I couldn’t help but touch the trees as I passed; just being this close to them sent a live current through my veins. I loved the way they made me feel.
Ryland was already working on preparing to start the fire when I dumped all the dried kindling and twigs I could find in to the make-shift hole. Ry smiled at me before turning back to the fire; he had always been amazing at getting the fire started. Even the first time we came up here, he had made a roaring blaze in minutes. He had tried to teach me once, but all I had managed to do was burn my fingers with his book of matches.
“1…2…3…4…5…6…”
“Why are you counting?” Wyn interrupted me.
“To see how long it takes Ryland to light the fire. Watch.” We both turned toward him just as a blaze ignited in the pit.
Wyn’s eyes widened in surprise and her mouth formed a giant O.
“How’d I do?” Ryland asked, wiping his hands on his expensive slacks.
“I don’t know. I lost count,” I admitted.
“Oh, great.” His sarcastic voice echoed through the clearing. “Now how am I supposed to know if I beat my record?”
“What’s the record?”
“Twelve seconds,” I answered Wyn, causing her jaw to drop even further.
“Can you do magic or something, because that was wickedly fast.”
Ryland balked at her question, his face falling pale to a ghostly shade of white like he had been caught at something.
“Ummm, no. I just like to light things on fire.” He shook his curls, his uncomfortable face disappearing so fast I wasn’t even sure if I had seen it.
“Too bad, that would be way cool if you could. You could pretend to fly and make things disappear!”
Ryland laughed at her. I guess magic wasn’t cool to him. Then again, I couldn’t see Ryland pulling rabbits out of hats with much flair.
“Well, for losing count, Jos, you owe me a race.” Ryland leaned close to me, his face full of eager anticipation.
“You’re on,” I answered him, already standing tall; trying to meet him at his full height, which only brought me to his shoulders. I tried to look intimidating by squaring my shoulders, but it looked rather silly, and both Ryland and Wyn laughed at my poor attempt to psych him out.
“Oh, fine,” I said, giving in and grabbing Wyn’s hand to pull her over to the line of trees that surrounded the clearing. “You can play referee.”
“You gonna cheat, Jos?” Ryland asked as he took his place at the tree next to mine, stretching his arms out in preparation.
“Nope, I am going to win.” I gave him my biggest smile and then looked up to the tall branches above me. I knew I had a problem. Although I loved the feel and the smell of Ryland’s sweater, it was way too big to be effective during a tree-climbing race.
“Oh, great,” I mumbled.