Where We Stand

1 | Lost in You [Complete]

© 2014 Lujayn Ambers. All rights reserved

The photo from the cover on the side is by HeySun from deviantART. The model is not Acacia Brinley.

Chapter 1

It builds and then it breaks.

I remember those words as clear as day. He'd said them when we'd sat on my porch swing, a look of pain etched on his face. I remember the gleam in his eyes, the unshed tears he'd held back, the way his fingers tugged at the threads on the frayed cushion. I remember squeezing his hand, trying to comfort him. He'd pushed that misery into himself, locked it away from my reach.

Now, Aiden sat beside me, his shoulder grazing my own and his knee bumping my side whenever he leaned towards me. We sat at the back of his truck, the three of us. Naomi had settled from across us, one leg placed over the other.

"Number three," Naomi said, twirling her index finger in the air. "Dye my hair blue."

Stretching my hand forward, I picked up a packet of cotton candy. I tore it open and scooped a fluffy puff before slipping it into my mouth. A rush of sugar melted on my tongue. Strawberry flavor—my favorite.

Naomi was having fun talking about her New Year resolutions. Her voice had taken on a high-pitched tone and her eyebrows had arched up high. I, for one, didn't feel like sharing mine.

"What are you, Sonic the Hedgehog?" Aiden snorted.

Naomi ignored him.

I looked past Naomi's head. Beyond hundreds of cars in the parking lot, past the tall iron gates marking the entrance was a signboard that read Big Fish Golf Course. On every night of the thirty first of December, the town folk would gather here to celebrate New Year. Tonight was no exception.

As I took another bite out of the cotton candy, Aiden snatched the packet and ate the rest of it.

"Why do you always steal mine?" I glared at him. "Take Naomi's."

"Hey, mine are off-limits!" Naomi took her packets, unfolded from her sitting position and jumped out of the car.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Getting them as far away from him as possible," she said.

When she was gone, Aiden inclined his head towards my shoulder. I breathed in the scent of deodorant and strawberries. Waves of brown hair cascaded down his forehead, tickling my cheek.

"You know, yours taste better," he said, his mouth so close to my ear.

An electrifying buzz hummed in my body, a buzz that grew stronger in his close proximity. I wasn't supposed to feel like this but I couldn't help it. Scooting away from him, I felt the cold metallic side of the truck scuff my ribs.

"Back off, Romeo," I said.

 He smiled. "Why? I know you like me."

I scowled, ignoring the blush creeping into my cheeks. He couldn't possibly see my face so clearly in the dark. I squared my shoulders and held my chin high. Aiden's smile widened into a devilish grin.

"Admit it."

"No."

I met his gaze in defiance. Aiden wriggled his eyebrows at me. He looked ridiculous. Just as ridiculous as he'd looked the first time we'd met ten years ago.

I had been playing with Sookie, my stuffed bunny, when a ball flew in my direction. It hit Sookie and made her fall into the mud. A boy came to pick the ball and I remember looking at the fake beard and the unibrow painted on his face and thinking, he looks silly. Aiden had made his friends draw them so that he'd look like Jeffrey Kurt, the best footballer our town ever had in the past decade.