“Who are ‘they’?” He took the joint back, the knuckle of his index finger grazing the corner of her mouth.
She shrugged one shoulder—the one with the braid—then looked out onto the confetti water. “Can you see the future?”
“No. Can you?” He played along, not willing to overthink the sudden bizarre turn in their conversation. He was content to float in her company without actually leaving the ground.
“No matter how hard I look, I just can’t see it.”
Before he could ask what she meant or anything else about her, the girl they all called Didi pushed off the tree she leaned on, walked up to the cliff’s edge, and jumped.
It took a couple of seconds for Caleb’s brain to catch up with what had just happened. His heart dropped. Then just as fast, it leapt into his throat. He dropped the joint and toed off his shoes. Removing the jacket, he ran toward the edge and dove in after her, like an Olympian going for gold.
Two
SOMETHING HAD TO give.
The instant she took the leap she felt the pendulum swing up.
Best. Decision. Ever.
She loved the wind rushing against her skin and through her hair. She caught herself thinking this was what flying must feel like. The freedom. The weightlessness. Until wham! She slammed feetfirst into the water. The shock took her aback. But there was no stopping now. A grin stretched her lips as her body sank. The coolness banished the stifling heat in her blood. Most people would have fought hard to break through to the surface. She wasn’t most people.
Breath left her body in tiny bubbles. The salt water stung her eyes like tears. She struggled to keep them open, blinking often. What little of the sky she could make out grew farther and farther away.
This must be what oblivion was like. The silence. The cold. Away from hateful words. Hateful stares.
As she sank farther into the darkness, another shape plunged into the water. A shadow she couldn’t quite make out until he reached her and wrapped those long fingers around her wrist. Then, with a few quick kicks, her rescuer towed her body from the depths. She wanted to stay under a little longer. Just a little longer. But in seconds her head broke the surface. And as if by instinct, she gulped in the breath her lungs craved.
Two coughs later, an arm wrapped around her front, and soon she was towed back toward shore. Breathing allowed her body to float until her back was almost parallel with the water. She stared up at the sky. Its blue reminded her of the brushstrokes in van Gogh’s The Starry Night—how the light mixed with the dark until ultimately the dark won, even if technically it was still early afternoon.
Lost in thoughts of swirls of paint, she was surprised when two strong arms dragged her limp body onto one of the docks nearest the cliff. Then she was dropped like a wet towel. An oof escaped her lungs, then a giggle.
A face with the most startling blue eyes hovered above hers. No longer were the corners crinkled. Flames burned behind those brilliant irises. She reached up and touched his cheek. His gaze softened slightly. Even wet he was the most handsome boy she had ever seen.
“Wow,” she said in an extended exhale, feeling the urge to paint him.
Her handsome boy’s expression hardened. “Wow? Wow?” He closed his hands around the collar of her soaked shirt and lifted her. Then he shook her. “Wow? What the hell were you thinking?” He dropped her again, his gaze searching her face.
“My mom always says I don’t make the best decisions.”
“That part is obvious.” He wiped his hand over his still-dripping face. A deep sadness replaced the anger in his eyes. “Whatever you’ve got going on isn’t worth killing yourself over.”
“Who says I wanted to kill myself?”
“Uh, maybe the fact that you walked to the edge and didn’t stop until you went over? That shows intent.”
“No intent. Just what I needed. It felt damn good.” She whooped, then laughed up at the crystalline sky. Then she paused, remembering. “I still don’t know your name other than ‘Trust-Fund Boy’ or Mr. Parker. I would like a chance to thank my hero properly. Not that I needed saving, mind you.”
His face was so expressive. It was fun watching all the emotions flit across his features. The brow-crinkling doubt. The eye-tightening anger. And most of all, the slack-jawed shock. He closed his mouth and a muscle ticked along his strong jaw. Didi reached up again and traced the line from his ear to his chin with her fingertip, committing the angle to memory. He sucked in a breath. His wet hair dripped on her face like salty summer rain. When a drop landed on her lower lip, she stuck the tip of her tongue out and tasted it. His eyes widened for the briefest second before he closed them and exhaled. All the tension left his shoulders, causing them to slump toward her.
“Jesus,” he said like a prayer. “You’re crazy.”