Abigail Johnson - Girl on the Run

Aiden isnt watching the movie.

My skin grows warm as I realize hes not even pretending to watch the movie.

You know, you were the one who picked this. I extend a finger toward my laptop. What happened to all that I cant believe youve lived in New Jersey for nearly a year and you still havent seen Garden State?

I barely get the words out before Aidens hand fits to my jaw and he leans in to kiss me. Its a good kiss, the kind that makes my skin tingle and the whole world fade away until were the only two people on the planet. His free hand slides around my waist, pulling me closer, and a light sigh escapes from me. I could get so lost in him if I let myself.

That thought abruptly brings reality back into focus, and I shimmy from Aidens arms until were awkwardly sitting beside each other again in the reading chair thats meant for only one person. This chair, my bed, and my thrift-shop desk and dresser make up the entirety of the furniture in my roomunless you count the boxes I never bothered to unpack.

Easygoing almost to a fault, Aiden lets me go without protest, raising a single eyebrow. Did you hear your mom or something?

I shake my head and shift to the cushioned armrest so were no longer smooshed together. She left barely an hour ago. That would be a new record for worlds shortest first date, even for her. I want to check the window, though, and he knows it.

Aiden toys with a thread from the frayed knee of my jeans. Theres an ease to the way hes touching me that screams boyfriend. I shiver involuntarily, which in turn makes me inch my leg away.

Would it be so horrible if she knew about me? he says. I mean, weve technically already met. He glances over at the hiking boots next to my dresser, the ones he sold me and Mom four months ago, before she and I hiked the Smoky Mountains over the summer. Id wanted to go to Disneyland, but she gets superanxious in big crowds, so she surprised me with a road trip and a secluded weeklong hike instead, which, Ill admit now, turned out kind of amazing. So did the cute REI sales associate who oh so casually slipped me his number while Mom was checking out mini stoves.

I gnaw my lip, trying to think of a way to say that, yes, it would be horrible if Mom knew about him, without actually having to say yes. I settle on Its not you.

In response, Aiden slowly nods. Right.

Its not. I reach for the hand hes drawn back. Its not even her. Its me.

He gives me a humorless smile. Ashamed of me, huh? No, I get it. Guys who volunteer at animal shelters are generally dicks.

No. I let my mouth curve up. But they do sometimes smell like cat pee.

A genuine laugh erupts from Aiden. Seriously? I try to be really careful about that.

I lean forward to brush his cheek with a kiss, catching a hint of something crisp and foresty and definitely not at all like cat pee. When I start to stand, Aiden tugs me back.

Then what? His voice is as gentle as his touch. Cause I keep expecting you to just ghost me one of these days, and Im fully ready to admit how much that would suck. His hand slips over mine. I like you, Katelyn. Im fine if its more than you like me, but tell me Im not wasting my time here.

Every bit of the humor that initially attracted me to Aiden is gone. Weve always kept things light and fun. Now he looks like my next words have all the power in the world to elate or crush him.

And I will crush him. Not intentionally, and probably not without crushing myself a bit in the process, but its going to happen. Not because Aiden is a bad guyI think the fact that hes in my bedroom despite all Moms rules speaks for itself. As does the fact that he made a cute Rapunzel joke instead of complaining when I told him hed have to climb the drainpipe and sneak into my bedroom if he wanted to see me. I couldnt risk letting him use the front entrance like a normal person (I wouldnt put it past Mom to rig the door with some kind of undetectable sign to check if its been opened when she leaves me home alone).

I should probably explain about my mom.

Shes amazing and funnybut nearly every hour of the day shes terrified out of her mind that something terrible is going to happen to me. I think it has to do with how she grew up. Shes never been exactly forthcoming about her past, but I do know that her mom dropped her on the doorstep of her unsuspecting fathers trailer when she was three, never to be seen again, and that the height of her dads parenting skills was remembering to feed her most of the time. He died shortly before I was born, so I never met him, but given my moms lack of parental supervision growing up, it seems like she swung really far the other way with me.