Free Paper Airplanes by Monica Alexander Page A

tried to date me the summer after we’d graduated, after Dylan and I had broken up. We’d been friends for years, and I’d hooked up with him once, but it hadn’t gone anywhere – no sparks whatsoever. And we were both going away to school anyway, so there wasn’t a point in seeing him over the summer when it was just going to end. I hadn’t talked to him since then, and although he was fun and cute, I wasn’t sure I was ready to put myself back out there. I felt weird about dating when Will was still on my mind all the time.
    “ Oh, okay, well tell Kyle I said hi, but I’m not sure I can make it,” I said, shrugging as I interjected my own false cheer into my voice since Nicole would expect it.
    “OMG, you should totally try to stop by. It’s going to be so fun!”
    I’d been to enough of Nicole’s parties in high school, so I knew without a doubt that it would be a rager, but I just couldn’t bring myself go. I knew going to a party would bring back memories of APB parties and then I’d be reminded of Will, and I’d probably lose my shit in front of all my old friends. No, I definitely wasn’t ready for that.
    “I’ll try,” I said, simply because it would pacify her.
    * * *
    I nstead of going to Nicole’s party, I ended up staying home and watching a movie with Chinese take-out and falling asleep on the couch. My mom woke me up when she and my dad got home around ten, and I shuffled upstairs, peeled off my clothes and fell back asleep again. And since I’d gone to bed so early the night before, I was up before the sun.
    It was just starting to peek over the horizon, so I decided to go for a run. The weather was getting warmer by the day, so being outside might be nice, and it was so peaceful when no one was out and about.
    I just ran the loop that I knew was a mile and a half long that started and ended at my house. I couldn’t run much more than that anyway , but it felt good to get out of the house and get some fresh air.
    Just as I was jogging toward the corner that turned onto my s treet, something – or rather someone – caught my eye. I jogged up to where he was standing at the end of a driveway and stopped, hoping to make peace before we had to work together later in the day. He was saying goodbye to someone he’d been talking to on his phone.
    “Hi!” I said as cheerfully a s I could when I was breathless, pulling an earbud out of one ear, the Avicii song I was listening to still playing in my other ear.
    Jared looked up at me i n surprise from where he’d been looking down at his phone to end his call and shoved the phone in his back pocket. As his gaze shifted up, his bright blue eyes caught the sun and looked so incredibly luminescent. His dark hair looked sexy in a messy way that made me want to run my hand back through it.
    “Wow, you have really pretty eyes,” I blurted out, feeling like a n idiot that I’d said that out loud when I’d only intended to think it.
    “Okay,” he said, blinking a few times. “Thanks, I guess.”
    I could tell he was still wary of me, so I smiled. “So, what are you doing in this neighborhood? Are you visiting your friend . . . um, what was his name?”
    I should ha ve remembered the kid with the blond hair’s name, but all I could think about from that encounter had been Jared. He’d stuck with me. The other guy, although he’d been nice, didn’t resonate in my brain like the one standing before me.
    “Scott,” he said tersely, and I knew I’d screwed up. His tone spoke of his irritation that I couldn’t remember his friend’s name.
    “Yeah, Scott. He was so nice. Are you visiting him?” I asked as cheerfully as possible.
    Jared narrowed his eyes at me. “No, I live here,” he said, as if it should have been obvious.
    “You do? Oh, wow, sorry. Did you just move in?”
    He raised his eyebrows in disbelief and shook his head, a surefire way to let me know I’d screwed up yet again. “Yeah, about three years ago,” he said