Free Incomplete by Lindy Zart Page A

much been the only thought in my head since it happened.
    I shrug. “It was okay.” It was amazing, mind blowing, the best kiss I’ve ever experienced.
    “It was okay? It was okay ?” Her voice has gotten louder with every word, nearly screeching on the last ‘okay’.
    I cringe and remain silent, watching her eyes and face change multiple shades of color within the span of thirty seconds. I feel like an ass. I am an ass.
    She takes a deep breath, speaking evenly when she says, “Since it was just okay , I see no reason to repeat it with you. Ever. And clearly I need more practice.” Lily nods her head. “Yes. I think I need to find someone else to practice with to improve my okay kissing skills. In fact, I think I’ll go to that party tonight, without you, and I will find a boy to kiss. Maybe even Garrett .”
    The look of surprise on her face isn’t anything compared to the surprise I feel once I realize I’ve unknowingly closed the distance between us and am looming over her. I don’t care. She is not kissing any other boy and she sure as hell isn’t going to be kissing Garrett Adams.
    “ No .” One word, but it says a million things.
    “No, I won’t be going to the party without you? Or no, I won’t be kissing Garrett Adams?” Her eyes flash as she puts her face inches from mine as she says, “Or no , I won’t be kissing any other boy?”
    “All of them,” I grind out, clenching and unclenching my hands. One guy puts his lips on Lily’s and I will want to kill him, I know I will. At the very least I will cause tremendous bodily harm. “I’m going with you and there will be no kissing with any boy. Got it?”
    “Not even you?” she asks innocently.
    I close my eyes and grit my teeth. “Not even me,” I say from between my teeth.
    “You seem jealous. Are you jealous?”
    I rear back, my eyes popping open. “I— no .”
    Lily’s eyes sparkle with amusement. “Are you sure? You’re really not jealous?”
    This is beyond jealousy. This is all-out, maddeningly consuming fury at the thought of any guy besides me touching her. It just isn’t going to happen. I know it’s ridiculous to think it won’t ever happen, but I have to think it’s true, or I will seriously lose my mind. I have to lie to myself just to get through every day without going insane.
    I cannot imagine her loving some other guy, kissing him, letting him touch her, marrying him, having his babies, growing old with him, because that guy—he’s supposed to be me. I know it like I know my own name. If we lived in a different world, it would be so.
    When I continue to stare at her in stoic silence, she laughs. “Let’s get some breakfast. My treat.” She walks toward the front door of her house. “Meet me here in twenty, okay?” Lily opens the door and disappears inside the house without waiting for me to answer.

Chapter 8
     
     
     
    I’m drying off from my shower when I hear the voices. I pause with the towel to my head, straining my ears to make out the words. My heartbeat picks up. She shouldn’t even be up yet. Why is she up?
    “…me to do anything…act like…even here…” my mom shouts.
    “…because you….here…never…a part of…”
    I quickly tug on my boxers, shove my glasses on my face, and fling the door open, cool air pebbling my skin after the heat of the bathroom. I race toward Aidan’s room, the voices from downstairs louder in the hallway. He’s sitting on his bed, staring down at an unopened book. I strive for a calmness I don’t feel as I sit on the edge of his bed.
    “Hey.”
    He looks up, his eyes immediately shifting from mine. “Hey.”
    “Why don’t you get dressed? Lily wants you to eat breakfast with us.” The fact that he had a bowl of cereal about an hour ago means nothing to an eleven-year old.
    Aidan’s eyes brighten. “Okay.” He jumps up from the bed and digs through his dresser drawers, pausing to say, “Where are your clothes?”
    “Waiting for me in my