CHAPTER 31

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The wind picked up, stirring the leaves up above. Derek was looking at me with disbelief. And I knew why. I had just declared to him that I wanted to be with him. No matter what the cost might be.

      "My presence here isn't guaranteed," he said, and his eyes were big and dark and serious.

      I nodded.

      "Nothing's guaranteed," I replied.

      And of course it was true. Anything could happen. I had recently fallen down a mountain. But miraculously I was still here, looking into the beautiful eyes of the most handsome boy I'd ever seen.

      It was clear to me now that I'd be taking my chances. I was that girl. The one who could recognize true love and jump for it. Out of my own life and into someone else's. Into Derek's life. And this was only the start of things. Now that I'd gone into it, I'd have to find a way to make it work. To make him stay here in Bluffside. And even more daunting—to make him stay with me.

      The wind was picking up more. Whipping loose pockets of dust. I stared up at the sky. The stars were bright and bold and full of hope and then they were gone. A thick layer of clouds was moving in. Here it was then, the drama in the weather I'd been expecting.

      "I can't tell you how things will end up," he said. "I can't give you any guarantees."

      "I don't need guarantees," I replied, and meant it. This was enough. This moment with him. And the future ones I'd be granted. They'd sustain me through the difficult times I already knew would be coming. Those times he'd be away from me.

      "You won't know your destination," he said.

      "And I don't want to," I said. It was more romantic this way. We were being swept away by something. Some force. And we'd be together. At least for a while. And our end destination was a mystery. It could be anywhere. And that notion filled me with a sense of romanticism. I didn't care where I'd ultimately be deposited. What mattered was to be taken now. By the breeze and this night. To step into it fully as I was looking into his eyes. And to be whisked away. It was happening. Things had been set in motion and the present had already been altered, had been changed in ways that would guarantee us a different future.

      "Your dad's coming," Derek announced. He got up and reached for my hand. I felt his strength as he pulled me up, and sparks of heat flared up in my hand and rushed into my wrist.

      I looked over my shoulder but didn't see anyone and I shook my head at him uncomprehendingly.

      "He'll be here soon," Derek said softly. He leaned in and kissed my cheek. I couldn't believe it. His lips on my cheek. I wanted to freeze the moment. But it was brief and immediately after my cheek was on fire. I felt like I was being lifted up by the wind, like I might be carried off and transported all the way up to the sky. Into the clouds and past them, to where the stars were hiding.

      "Thank you," he said and his eyes were light and intense. Full of gratitude. And he turned and was gone.

      I realized that I was still wearing his jean jacket and I was about to run after him, but my dad appeared.

      "Ellie?" he asked, sounding surprised at finding me standing under the tree.

      "Hey Dad," I said, trying to appear nonchalant, hoping he wouldn't notice the strange jacket. I wondered briefly how Derek had known that my dad had been approaching us. But on some level I already knew. Derek sensed things normal people didn't.

      "It's going to rain," my dad said, and briefly glanced up at the sky. "You probably want to come in."

      "Soon," I replied. And he nodded at me and walked back to the kitchen.

      I wasn't ready to be inside. I didn't want to be contained after everything that had just happened to me. I wanted to be standing here in the wind that was getting wilder with every passing second. I wanted to feel it in my hair and against my cheeks. I wanted the sensuality of the night to continue. I thought of Derek's hand holding on to mine as he pulled me up. His lips on my cheek. It seemed that all of this energy had been transferred to the weather. I had the sense of leaving my old life. The world of earlier had been altered, had been replaced by this new sensual world. And I'd be stepping into it.

      It started raining. A few lazy, fat raindrops at first, then becoming a downpour. I tilted my head towards it. I wanted the rain to splash me. I wanted to feel it on my skin. This expression of the sky.

     Despite getting wet, I wasn't cold. The heat of his touch, and the feeling of his lips on my cheek stayed with me. There now was even more heat in my face, and throughout my body. I thought I might be feverish, or maybe this was what it was like to feel on fire with desire. Because I desired him like never before.

     The rain was coming down hard now. It was coming down all over me, soaking me inside Derek's jacket. Here I am, I thought. And I said it out loud. I was telling the sky. I was telling Derek. I was telling the forces who wanted to keep us apart. Bring it on, I thought. I'd take it. I'd get through it. I'd get what I wanted. Him.

      "Eleanor," my mother's voice called.

     I twirled in the yard. Surrendering to every drop that fell down on me. Celebrating the rain and this night and the newly created future that awaited me.

     "Eleanor," my mother called again.

     I had no choice—I'd have to go inside, but I'd have to sneak in without being seen. My dad hadn't noticed the jacket, but my mom would. She'd also note my soaked condition and I wasn't in a mood to be questioned.

      I walked back to the kitchen and paused outside it, looking around. I didn't see my mother. I dashed inside and sprinted up the stairs. My bedroom door was open and I hoped my mother wasn't waiting inside. But it was just Estella. I closed the door behind me and scooped her up. Pressed her to me. She purred lightly although I knew she didn't love the water drops shaking loose from my hair.

       I put her down on my bed. I took off Derek's jacket, balled it up and tossed it into the back of my closet. I made another dash to the bathroom and turned on the shower. My mother would hear me in the bathroom and that's how she'd know where I was. This was my way of telling her, because I couldn't talk. I was beyond words. I'd been turned into a kite. Even though I was taking a shower, I wasn't really here. I'd been cut loose from this physical moment. My mind  was elsewhere. My heart too. They were floating up higher and higher, flying the night sky.

     And I already knew I wouldn't be sleeping. Some nights were too good to be slept through.


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NEXT NEW CHAPTER—TUESDAY, JUNE 9

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