Free Touch by Jennifer Snyder

bowed his head formally, and when he looked up, his sapphire eyes, free of the torment we both felt, met mine. “Thank you,” he whispered. His lips twisted into a cocky little grin just before he vanished.
    I stared into the empty space he’d once occupied and replayed his arrogant grin in my mind, swearing to myself we’d see each other again. Even if it meant keeping it our own little secret, because Love is the only thing that not even Death can kill.

 

     
    I hope you enjoyed reading Touch . Now, please read on for a bonus short story from Jet’s perspective.

 

     
    Choice
     
    By Jennifer Snyder
    Copyright © 2011 by Jennifer Snyder

 

     
    I felt my entire life unraveling around the edges as I stared into Celeste’s steel-gray eyes.
    “ Jet, did you hear me?” she asked, her eyebrows drawn together in concern.
    I blinked. “Yeah, I heard you.”
    I’d heard her loud and clear. She’d just confessed she was pregnant and all I could do was gape at her.
    “ I told my parents,” she said, sending another jolt of shock reverberating through my body. “They’ve already called the clinic and scheduled an appointment for an abortion.” Her gaze never met mine as she spoke, instead it remained fixated on her thumb ring, which she continued to spin nervously.
    “ Don’t I get a say in any of this? Or even my parents?” I knew how selfish I sounded, but didn’t care.
    Celeste’s eyes met mine again, and I knew I’d never forget the hurt and anger that pooled within them for as long as I lived.
    “ They told me I can’t see you anymore,” she whispered.
    My heart dropped to my stomach and my fists clenched at my sides. “Y…you told them no though, right?” I stuttered.
    She didn’t answer, she merely continued to stare at her twirling thumb ring.
    “ Celeste, please tell me you stood up to them,” I pleaded, reaching for her arm.
    “ Don’t, okay, don’t make this any harder than it already is,” she muttered, jerking her arm out of my grasp. “You know I can’t tell them no, not with something as serious as this.”
    “ Yes, you can,” I scoffed. “In four more months we’ll both be eighteen!”
    Tears swelled in her gray eyes and she sighed. “It doesn’t matter.”
    “ It does to me ,” I said. “This is our baby … our life …” The words fumbled from my lips, sounding oddly strangled and broken.
    The back of the condom box had been right—apparently they weren’t effective 100% of the time.
    “ I don’t want it,” Celeste said, her voice barely above a whisper. “I don’t want any of this!”
    She rushed past me, before I had time to think of a reply, leaving me feeling gutted by her words.
    I let out a loud breath and intertwined my fingers behind my head. What a way to begin spring break.

    Celeste didn’t return my calls or text messages for the next two days. By the time day three rolled around, I did receive a text saying she wanted to let me know the appointment was at two o’clock that afternoon and no, I wasn’t allowed to come.
    I slipped out of bed an hour later and stood in front of my bedroom window, glaring out at a picture-perfect spring day and hating it. Three crows had congregated in my front yard and my eyes zeroed in on them, focusing on the only blackness I could find. I felt like I was drowning in my own twisted emotions and raging thoughts that never seemed to clear from my head.
    A silver Toyota 4Runner squealed tires into my driveway, forcing the crows to scatter into flight and grabbing my attention. I knew who it was even before they’d parked—Travis and Wade, my two best buds. Also, the only two people I’d told the truth about my breakup with Celeste. I hadn’t even told my parents. There was no reason. At two o’clock today it would be like nothing had ever happened, no matter what anyone said.
    “ Jet, come out here with your hands up or else we’re comin’ in to get you!” Travis shouted, slamming against the hood of