Free Bittersweet by Kimberly Loth

girl who didn’t want him?
    “When are you going to come out with the Spook Alley gang again? We miss you.” She pouted a little. Unfortunately, it just made her look cute. He really could have anyone. No way he actually wanted me. This was either about Grant or chocolate.
    He held up his hands in an “I don’t know” gesture.
    “My evenings are a little full,” he said and put his arm around me. Some girls would’ve been ecstatic, but I was a little annoyed he used me to put her off. Shame on him to lead me on.
    The car jerked a little and off we went. About two miles per hour on an elevated flat track. I shrugged off his arm.
    “My, my, you are in high demand.”
    He grimaced and rubbed the back of his neck.
    “Obviously that was a total lie. Most nights I go home and read a book.”
    I didn’t believe that for a second.
    “Right and I party every night with a different guy.” I folded my arms in front of my chest. Why was I doing this again?
    He sat back and looked out over the kids running around under the track. I thought maybe I’d offended him until he turned back to me, his eyebrows creased.
    “It’s true. But I have an idea. Why don’t we hang out every night? Then I wouldn’t be lying, would I?”
    I looked over at him and he smiled. I replied without thinking.
    “Okay.”
    He put his arm around me again. This time I let him. The girl was nowhere in sight and so he wasn’t just using me. Plus, it felt nice. Then I immediately felt guilty. What right did I have to feel nice? Never mind that I was feeling again.
    “Why are you so concerned with the little white lie?” I asked.
    “I don’t like lying to people. Ever. But when she pounced on me like that I didn’t know what else to say.”
    “I take it you don’t like her.”
    He sighed and tugged me a little closer. My heart beat faster. I took a deep breath, hoping to still my heart. He didn’t seem to notice. A few kids screamed below us and I had to lean closer to him to hear. He had very nice lips. They weren’t cracked like a lot of boys’. He must use Chapstick or something.
    “She’s nice enough. But she came with us to the casino last week and I couldn’t shake her off. She followed me around to all the tables. I’d finally found a slot machine deep in the middle of a crowd and I thought I’d lost her but just after I put a twenty into the machine the person next to me left and she sat down. She went on for thirty minutes about why we would be perfect for each other. As soon as she said the M word, I bailed. Left six bucks in the machine and didn’t look back.”
    “The M word?”
    “Marriage.”
    I laughed. “Poor girl.”
    He mocked outrage.
    “Poor girl? Poor me. Well, not anymore, as my social calendar is now completely full. Thanks to an unsuspecting Savannah.”
    The little ghost pulled back into the station and Dallas held out his hand to help me out. Instead of letting go, he adjusted his grip so that our fingers intertwined. His hand was smooth and his fingers swallowed mine.
    Butterflies.
    Holy crap.
    The last time I felt butterflies was the summer before my sophomore year when Eddie kissed me on the Ferris wheel at the fair. So cliché, but I remembered the butterflies because Dad had died the following week. I hadn’t felt that way since. Even now my chest ached, the pain of my dad’s death as raw as it was two years ago. I shook my head. Empty. Go back to the empty.
    We walked toward the skulls. Dallas didn’t let go of my hand, which meant that he wasn’t doing it for the purpose of dissuading his eager suitor. The butterflies still floated in my stomach and the ache in my chest began to subside. Maybe some feeling was better than none.
    We had to stand in a short line for the skull ride because Spook Alley was filling up with little kids. We were the oldest ones in line. When it was our turn, Dallas stepped in front of me.
    “I present you with Floating Skulls.” He bowed and opened the door to the