I stayed with Harley all day long.
“Where’s Alex?” Harley asked.
“She left an hour ago, Harls,” I said.
“Oh.”
“Yeah.” We sat there in silence. “Can I tell you something?”
“Yeah?”
“I-I’m moving away.”
“What!? Why?!” he gasped. He almost fell off his couch as he sat up.
“My dad doesn’t want me to be here if you’re gonna be here,” I said. I tried hard not to start crying, but tears started spewing out of my eyes. I got up from the ground and sat down next to him on the couch. “He’s moving us to Hawaii so I can be ‘safe’.”
“What am I supposed to do without you?” he asked. This made me cry all the harder.
“W-well, for the record,” I told him, “you did last the fifth grade without me.”
“Because I didn’t know you then,” he said. “Well, you know what I mean.”
I didn’t know how to respond, so I hugged him tightly. He hugged me back as my tears stained his sweatshirt.
“Kira, if you’re moving away, I need to tell you something,” he said. “You know how your dad interrupted me when I was telling you who I liked?”
This was it. “Yeah . . . ?”
“I-it’s . . . you.”
My heart melted and I thought I’d cry even more. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh.” Tears stained my face. “Harley . . . “
“Kira, it’s okay if you don’t--”
“I like you, too, Harley.”
His brown eyes went wide. “You do?!” I nodded. “Wow. That’s actually . . . great. Really, really great!”
“Well, I mean, what’s not to like?”
He smiled at me and for a minute I thought I saw his eyes shine a bit.
He leaned over and kissed me.
A happy ending after all.38Please respect copyright.PENANAJn6qLOBqOn