“Maybe it’s like the Emily Dickinson poem,” I said, feeling the weight of his fingers as they traced the length of my jaw. “You know, the one I had to read in class about the interposing fly? Maybe Sunny is my fly, interposing and distracting me from whatever it is I’m supposed to be doing with my life. Or maybe we’re all each other’s flies. Maybe we’re all a bunch of big, buzzing distractions.”
I felt stupid after I said it. It was the kind of thing I’d never have said around Sunny. She would have laughed me right off the roof. But Justin looked right at me and smiled, like he totally got it.
He reached out and tucked a wandering strand of hair behind my ear, and I noticed for the first time that his eyes had tiny flecks of green mixed in with the blue. They were an ocean, blue and green and unending. I wanted to dive into those eyes. I wanted to swim around forever and never surface.
I didn’t know if I leaned into him or he leaned into me, but suddenly his mouth pressed against mine, and it felt even more warm and wonderful than his hand on my cheek. Something bloomed inside my stomach, heat and nervousness and excitement all at the same time. It was so much better than any kiss I’d ever had before. He kissed me slowly, softly, like it was enough. As if kissing me would always be enough. Not like Logan who made it seem like kissing was a means to an end.
He broke away from me when we heard the crash from inside the bedroom.
“What was that?” I asked, my eyelids fluttering open. He shrugged and climbed over me toward the window.
“Don’t go anywhere,” he said, smiling at me before climbing into the house to see what the noise was. He came back a moment later, putting one leg through the window followed by the other on his way back outside.
“No big deal.” He explained. “Some drunken idiot knocked over a lamp. Probably thought the room was empty until they heard us and broke it on the way out.” He gave me one of his sly, half-grins. “Where were we?”
He tugged me back down on the roof, sliding his arm around me as he pulled me toward him. My head fit perfectly into the curve of his shoulder, as if we were made to fit together. I looked up at the sky and smiled, the warmth of his arms around me making me happier than I’d felt in a long time. I didn’t want the night to end.
When we finally went downstairs, the party had thinned out. The remaining revelers were trying to determine who was the least drunk and most able to drive. Justin gave me a long and lingering hug, then whispered, “I’ll call you tomorrow,” before heading out to catch a ride with Greg Younger. I thought I might float right up into the sky and join the stars.
The pool was empty when I went outside, except for a few beer cans floating in the water like buoys. I found Jenny passed out on one of the green-and-white striped lounge chairs surrounding the pool, her clothes haphazardly tossed over her and a tiny dribble of drool trailing down her chin.
“Jenny,” I said, shaking her. “Jenny, are you awake? Where’s Sunny?” She didn’t even flinch. It was like she’d been hit over the head and knocked unconscious.
Someone opened the door that lead out to the patio, and I turned to see Amber standing in the doorway with a slice of pizza in her hand.
“Sunny went inside a while ago?” she said in her familiar question-asking way as she stumbled toward me. “She was with a boy?” She looked around to make sure no one was listening and added in a whisper, “Someone said they heard noises coming from her bedroom?”
“Who’s she with?” I made a mental list of the available guys at the party. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if she hooked up with someone else. It would make it easier to break the news to her about Justin. That was a conversation I was not looking forward to having. Sunny didn’t like losing, especially when it came to guys.
Amber shrugged and took another bite of her pizza, taking all of the cheese with her so that only sauce and bread remained.
“Should we try to carry Jenny inside?” I asked, jutting my chin in her direction. “She’s not going to be very happy if she wakes up outside tomorrow.”
Amber shrugged again and grabbed a wet towel off of the back of one of the lawn chairs. “We already tried to move her, but even the guys couldn’t get her to budge because she’s, like, dead weight?” She walked over toward the lawn chair Jenny was sprawled across and placed the dripping towel over the top of her. Then she nodded and gave me an I’m-so-smart look, pleased with herself for having found an alternate solution. “I’m going to bed now, okay?”
“’K,” I said. “I’ll go check on Sunny and do the same.” Jenny would be pissed as all get out when she woke up, but it could be worse. At least she didn’t break anything this time.
Sunny’s bedroom door was closed, and I could make out the muffled sounds of laughter coming through the wood. I knocked a few times and listened.
“What?” Sunny called, her voice sounding tight.
“Hey Sunny. It’s Taylor. Everything okay?”
She was silent for a few moments, and I heard the low rumble of a guy’s voice.
Finally she answered, “Yeah, everything’s fine. Just don’t come in, okay?”
There was more laughter from the other side of the door. I rolled my eyes, knowing when I wasn’t wanted.
Of course I was super curious to know who was with her. Outside of Justin, she hadn’t mentioned interest in anyone in a while. But it wouldn’t be the first time Sunny came back from The Fields with a new boyfriend. There was the PDA session with Greg Younger, the post-party hook-up with Jackson Terris (super-hot senior who dumped her for a cheerleader), and of course Mark Schroen. They were together for the entire summer after they hooked up in the back of his Jeep at The Fields’ makeshift parking lot. In fact, maybe it was Mark. She was perched on his shoulders the last time I saw her, and they seemed pretty cozy. More important was the fact that it wasn’t Justin, because Justin liked me.