The Runaways

Chapter 34

Caleb

After nearly an hour of watching her hide behind the midnight quiet, Hailey finally let a half glass of moonshine wash the worry out of her blood.

She laughed out loud and I leaned in close, enough to feel her breathing. She looked right at me, eyes misty and wild with all kinds of trouble, and for a split second I swear to God I fell in love with her a little bit. Enough to scare the shit outta me, enough for me to know that even if I said it to her that she wouldn't believe me. I wanted her to. But showing her felt about as easy as telling her, and telling her was damn near impossible.

  "You weren't wrong about the moonshine," she said.  

  "Oh yeah?"

   "It gets better after a while."

   "I'm impressed, I didn't think you'd finish it."

   "Runs in the family. My dad’s a pro.”

   "You're killin' me, Hailey."

    "Why?"

    "'Cause I don't wanna talk about your Dad."

    "Then what do you wanna talk about?"

     "I don't wanna talk."

I pulled her to me ‘til our noses touched, ‘til we crashed together in that sloppy beautiful way buzzed people do.

But I didn't kiss her. Not yet. Not ‘cause I was scared to or anything. Just ‘cause I  wanted to fall in love with the fine print.

I wanted to remember her exactly the way she was, 'cause chances were, I'd never have anything this beautiful, this close to me again. I was alright with losing myself to that kind of sad selfishness for a little while.  As long as she’d follow me, I was alright with losing myself.

"Hailey—"

"I thought you didn't wanna talk."

"I didn't b—"

"Then don't."

She kissed me ‘til I fell back onto Georgia’s old quilt, struggling to breathe in her sweetness all at once. I'd kissed her enough times to think that I could take it, to think that I'd gotten to know her lips well enough to live through the rush, but she damn near killed me in the way she took me down.

Her lips grazed mine at first, slow and subtle, melting like molasses against my mouth. Every other time she’d let me into her atmosphere, I’d get high on those pretty lips but still hold myself together. But tonight I was in pieces over her, millions of helpless little pieces, and she didn’t even know it.

I thought of so many of crazy ways to show her how small I felt without her, how much I’d started to need her to the point where I’d hold my breath whenever she disappeared for too long, but nothing seemed good enough. I didn’t have the words to make her understand that feeling, but I could give her the best, unbroken parts of me as long as she’d take ‘em.

Hailey eased up all of a sudden, like she wanted to see if I’d take the lead or keep following hers. I had my hands in her hair quicker than she could blink and I pulled her back into the kind of kiss that would keep her confident.

She came to me softly, her breath warm and weighted from the moonshine. I flicked my tongue across her lips and she sighed into me. There aren’t too many sounds in the world more beautiful than that.

I wanted her down to the details. From her rough cut hair, to her sideways smiles, to her batty-eyed blinks—every single thing she tried to hide about herself, I wanted. I wanted to touch her, to make her feel something she’d remember, but I didn't know what to do with my hands.