Foes & Cons by Carrie Aarons (i am malala young readers edition .txt) 📗

swallow my scream as he falls and I go with him. His body makes contact with the earth, and I tumble on top of him, my legs straddling his waist.

“It wasn’t the most graceful dismount, but damn do I like the landing.” Sawyer grins, then cups the back of my neck to pull me down for a kiss.

We’re making out on my front lawn, in the middle of the night, and it feels like the perfect amount of recklessness a high school senior should be getting up to.

“While I’d like to do this all night, it’s freezing and if your dad catches me, I’ll never live down the disappointment. Come on.”

He helps me up and we speed walk to his car, which I discover he’s parked around the block.

“My dad is over the moon that we’re dating. I don’t think you could do anything that he’d disapprove of.” I buckle my seat belt.

“Believe me, if he walked in on me going down on you, he’d be livid.” Sawyer snorts.

My cheeks, and my core, heat. “Okay, maybe not that. But, our parents are so happy. Your mom texts me almost every day to tell me that.”

As he starts the engine he says, “Well, you’ve always basically been a daughter to her. She’s happy it’s finally official.”

The thought of me being Mallory’s official daughter makes me think way into the future, our future. I always imagined it, even when I hated him, but thinking about Sawyer as possibly my husband? It sends butterflies soaring through my stomach.

We drive through our hometown, just holding hands in the silence of the night. It’s a comfortable quiet, and one we don’t need to fill with words.

When Sawyer turns his car onto a shaded lane and then winds us up and up, it dawns on me where we’re going.

“You’re really taking me parking?” I gasp.

“Figured we both have never done it, and I want to do everything with you.” He looks so in-command with one arm straight on the steering wheel.

“You’ve never been up here with anyone else?” Surprise tinges my expression.

Sawyer shakes his head. “Never. Deep down, I always knew it would be you and me up here.”

The Point is a Chester legend, though nowadays it’s probably less used than a friend’s basement or a party in the woods. It’s basically a dirt paved road up the side of a mountain that opens to a dirt paved parking lot with hiking trails shooting off of it. But from what I’ve heard, from Laura since I’ve never been up here myself, the view of our little town down below is spectacular.

Our headlights cut through the dark until we come upon a clearing, to find ourselves alone. Laura wasn’t lying, the view below as Sawyer parks the car is pretty beautiful.

“Wow.” I breathe.

“Yeah. I always heard it was great.” Sawyer unbuckles and climbs over the gear shift, his big body plunking down in the back. “You gonna join me?”

I look out over the point through the windshield, the sparse lights of our little town twinkling down below. Then I turn my back to them and join him in the back seat.

“This is so nineteen fifties.” I chuckle.

“I’ll admit, it seems super retro. But also romantic.” Sawyer wraps an arm around my shoulder and hooks me in, pulling me close.

“I’m surprised we’re the only ones up here,” I muse.

He nuzzles the side of my face. “Why? Everyone else is probably drunk hooking up in each other’s basements. I’m glad we have the place to ourselves.”

“Me too. The perfect end to our first Valentine’s Day.” My sigh is into his shoulder as I inhale his manly scent.

“Sometimes, I thought it would never happen.” Sawyer’s eyes are serious when he pulls back.

“Me too. There were times I felt so low, having done what I did. And then whenever we’d get into it, or our friends would …” Emotion clogs my throat as I trail off.

I didn’t mean for the conversation to go this way, or to dampen the mood.

“I hate myself for making you feel that way.” Apology mars his face.

“But we had our first Valentine’s Day. And you caught me as I jumped off my roof. I think we’re past it.” I try to change the subject.

“You were really afraid of that fall? I’ve seen you attempt riskier.” He squeezes the fingers laced through mine.

I shrug. “Maybe as we get older, things just seem scarier. When we were kids, nothing really scared me. While we grow up and get smarter, maybe that also sharpens our fear.”

“Hm, never thought about it that way. But I guess you’re right.”

“What is your biggest fear?” The question is random, but I realize I want to know.

Sawyer is quiet for a moment, and I study his profile as he thinks.

“That I’ll never measure up.” He gives a firm nod.

“What do you mean?” This conversation has gotten so much deeper than one ever should at The Point, but I don’t just want Sawyer for his looks or his body.

And it’s been a while since we dove deep this way. Yes, I know most everything about him, but he’s eighteen now. Technically, a man. And me, I’m a young woman. We have bigger problems now than we did on the playground.

“I know I chose my path, that I want to be an architect and work for our fathers. But sometimes it feels like I’m destined to fail. Even with all that might be guaranteed or waiting for me, I put so much pressure on myself to measure up to how great of a man and a professional my dad is.”

“You’re going to be amazing,” I whisper, because it’s true. “You’re so talented when it comes to sketching, to thinking out designs. I’ve seen it.”

His smile is wary. “It doesn’t make me any less stressed. It’s going to be a long journey to get there. I never … I don’t want to start on with the family firm and have either of them think that my work