| 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
The sun had set when Eden and I got off the floor in Katie's bedroom. I think the paint was getting to my head, 'cause when she held my hand and led me down the stairs, I kept crashing into her like a meteor. My hand bumping against her thigh, our hips clashing. I couldn't walk without feeling some part of her.
She glanced back on the finale step and smiled, that secretive, uneven smile that made my heart squeeze, like someone tied a rubber-band around it and was pulling, tighter and tighter.
It was the middle of fall, and the air was cold when Eden stepped into the backyard. She sat on the old tire-swing hanging from a tree, and pushed herself into the air. I stood on the grass and watched, grabbing her feet each time she came back down.
"Are you coming back home?" she asked.
"This is home."
"The city, Truman."
I sighed. "Nothing good happens there," I said.
Eden planted her feet on the ground until the swing stopped moving. "Your family is there. Katie's there." She paused and grabbed my hand, then whispered, "I'm there."
I took my eyes off the ground to stare at her. She looked sad, unsure. Like a firecracker that could light up the sky in one second, then fizzle and fade into nothing.
"You and your new roommate," I pointed out.
Eden laughed, and pushed herself off the ground again until she was flying through the air.
"That's your fault," she called. "We bonded over our mutual hatred of you!"
I grabbed the swing and Eden shrieked, grinning as her hair flew behind. "When are you going to stop pretending that you hate me?" I asked, wrapping my hands around her waist. Her shirt rod up, and her skin was like an open flame.
She wrapped her hands around my neck, pulled my face to hers. "Force of habit," she breathed.
I still couldn't seem to wrap my mind around the fact that I could have her now. I was so used to admiring her from the shadows, being stuck with my own secretive thoughts, that being able to hold Eden, to kiss her and pull her into me felt like it was all a dream.
"You're not dreaming," she whispered. I froze, not realizing I said that out loud. Her lips were red, and there was enough light in the sky still that her eyes were gold instead of brown.
"I'm not used to getting what I want," I told her. Her hands were still holding my face, and I focused on the way her palms felt against my cheeks. "I want Katie to wake up. I want my parents to stop treating me like I'm a kid who's gonna break down at any second. And . . ."
"And what?"
"And I want you," I finished. "And I want to stop feeling guilty for being happy right now."
