| published! under the new title MEET ME IN THE MIDDLE | Eden knows she can't love Truman, the boy with the angelic smile and devilish eyes. Why? He's her best friend Katie's older brother, who she strictly promised she'd stay away from.
But when a...
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T R U M A N
That was the first time Eden let me hold her hand. Laying on the floor in the warehouse, covered in paint. No recoiling. No flinching. Just our hands, locked together, fingers blue.
"Blue's your colour," I said, wiping a spot of paint off her neck.
"You think?" Eden asked. She was staring at the ceiling, smiling with her mouth closed.
"Yeah."
I wondered if it was easy for her to breathe when we were so close. Or if her heart was trying to break free of her chest, too. I couldn't be the only one feeling this. But she looked so calm with her hand on her chest, the other in mine.
I didn't know what she was feeling. And knowing Eden, she wouldn't make it easy for me to find out.
"You know I dressed as a devil because I thought you would," she said suddenly.
"What?"
She propped her head on her knuckle, turning onto her side to face me. "The party. I only dressed like a devil because I thought you would."
I grinned. Ear to ear.
"It's really that hard for you to picture me as an angel?"
Eden snorted, falling onto her back. "You're not an angel, Truman. There's nothing angelic about guys like you."
"Guys like me?" I echoed.
"Guys like you. Which happen to be the most dangerous ones, by the way." She pulled our locked hands onto her stomach, staring at our fingers. "The attractive, smooth talker with the baby blues and the crooked smile. That's you. The most dangerous kind."
"My smile isn't crooked."
Eden chuckled, rolling her eyes. "It's more of a figure of speech."
We laid in silence for a minute. I could hear it begin to rain, droplets hitting against the roof. They echoed throughout the space. I waited for Eden to let go of my hand.
When she ran her thumb along my wrist, I whispered, "I'm not dangerous, Eden. I think you're just scared."
She gave me a look, but I continued. "You spent so long believing me to be this person you created in your mind, this bad guy that breaks hearts. It was easier for you to keep your promise when you thought of me like that, huh? When you thought I was a shitty brother who ran away when things got tough?"
