Free One Year (New & Lengthened Edition) by Charlotte Byrd Page A

me!” I jump. “Sorry I’m in here. I was just getting a little claustrophobic out there.”
    “Yeah, seeing your ex with a date would do that, huh?” he smiles. I know Dylan means well, but sometimes he can be such an asshole.
    “And why are you hiding out?” I ask. He shrugs and comes closer to me.
    Man, he really is good looking. He’s got well-defined arms and a strong jaw. Kind eyes.
    “I like your hair like that,” he says, looking at me. I usually wear my hair up in a ponytail or a loose bun, but today I’m wearing it down per Juliet’s instructions. I’m also wearing lipstick. Shimmery and pink. It feels sticky, but it does make my lips pop.
    I smile and flutter my eyelashes like I’m some sort of 1960s movie star or Ginger from Gilligan’s Island. But I don’t do it on purpose. Earlier that evening, Juliet had glued on my first pair of false lashes and they’re so heavy that I can barely lift up my eyelids.
    Behind Dylan is a wall of track and field trophies.
    “Wow, are all those yours?” I ask. A big smile sweeps over his whole face, lighting up the room.
    “No, not all. Some of these are my dad’s. He ran in high school and college, too.”
    His words glow with pride. But then a tinge of disappointment sets in.
    “Families are complicated, aren’t they?” I say. He knows that I know a little bit about what had happened between him and his father. And he has made no secret of the fact that his father is in Europe and this party is taking place without his consent.
    “It’s funny how similar we are, really. How much we have in common and how much we still don’t get about each other,” he says.
    “Maybe the things that you don’t get about each other are the things that you don’t fully understand about yourself. Perhaps that’s what makes it so hard,” I say.
    “Maybe.” He shrugs and changes the subject. “Agh, enough about the disappointment that I am to my father. This is a fucking party, right? Are you having a good time?”
    “Definitely.” I nod and take a gulp of my drink. “Oh so, I meant to ask. How’s Peyton?”
    The expression on Dylan’s face falls a bit, but not so much that I really pay much attention to it.
    “She’s good.” He shrugs. “She couldn’t make it tonight. Had some school thing come up.”
    “Oh, I’m sorry about that. Well, thanks for having me here to celebrate with you!”
    I throw my arms around his neck and give him a brief hug. And suddenly, something changes. It’s uncanny how it’s possible to enter a moment thinking you’re on a plane of existence and then find yourself on an entirely different plane altogether. Well, that is precisely what had happened.
    I hugged Dylan as a friend and a roommate. And in our brief moment, a thought popped into my head. What if I kiss him? And when I pulled away, I no longer saw Dylan, my roommate and my friend. Instead, that Dylan had somehow morphed into an entirely different creature: a crush.
    And then I did something even more insane then simply think a crazy thought.
    Before I pull away completely, I lean in and press my lips onto his. He tastes of vodka and olives and his lips are soft and warm. At first touch, there’s a moment of hesitation. I feel his body questioning what’s going on and wait for him to push me away. But he surprises me. Dylan takes me in his arms and presses his body close to mine. When he runs his coarse tongue on the inside of my lips, my legs feel as if they’d fallen asleep.

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    “ Y ou kissed Dylan ? Dylan? Our roommate, Dylan?” Juliet asks back in our room at 5 o’clock in the morning. I have no memory of getting home, I don’t even know if we’d taken the subway or a cab, but I remember everything about that kiss.
    “Hey, I promised that I’d kiss someone tonight, right? Well, I did,” I say, flipping over on my side to face her.
    “When I made you make that promise, I wanted you to kiss someone new . Not another one of our roommates.”
    “Well,