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.James comes over to her and hugs her.She leans up to kiss himagain but he pulls back. No.Harley.No.She pushes his chest. Why? You know it s good.Lastnight.James tightens his mouth, breathing in through his nose. Yeah.Last night.I don t want to say it was a mistake.The word stings like a welt and Harley covers her face withher hands.This can t be happening everything I wanted, ripplingaway from me. Last night was great, James says.Harley looks up throughher tears and smiles, using one finger to try and dry her eyes. But  Oh, shit there s a but? Just let me talk, okay? But what it did was tell me sort ofwhat you just said. Wait, I m confused, Harley says. Was it great or not? You know how we that we didn t. Yeah, I was there? So, I know we didn t go the entire skiroute, if that s how you want to phrase it, Harley says. I prefer to complete the entire revolution boarding terms,he says, smirking.Then he goes on. I would ve.Obviously Imean, look at you.You re an inferno in terms of hotness; you re akick in the pants to be with witty, mellow. Please don t say I m your buddy, Harley says.#BMBODJOH "DUT No, James says. Not like that.Maybe if it were anothertime.Or another place. He looks away from her, out the win-dow, his face glazing over with other images.Harley stares. You like someone.This isn t about me.This isabout you liking someone else, isn t it?Without looking at her, James nods. Yeah. So.what does that mean?He turns to her. It means last night goes down in the rec-ord books as a fun thing, Harley.A typical thing.But not whatI m looking for.A typical thing? That sucks.Harley s breath catches in herthroat.Maybe this is what it feels like to be rejected, to lose.Harleytries to accept this.That she woke up next to him, still partiallyclothed, and saw her new boyfriend, and he woke up next to herand wanted to leave. And in the future?James shrugs. I m not a forecaster of futures.Coach taughtme that.You can try and try and use up all your energy figuringout what might happen, but it doesn t change what will.Better touse the time to reassess what you want. Or who?He nods. Yeah.Harley s heart is heavy with the rejection but the door isn tcompletely closed.He said another time, another place.Maybe inthe off-season.Maybe some other resort.Maybe not now doesn t meannot ever.Harley braces herself for the long haul.You want to playlike that? Fine. So who is this lucky girl?James crosses his arms over his chest. That is classified infor-mation. He stops, presses the button on the control panel, andwaits for a response.Then he whispers to Harley,  Someone isgoing to catch your attention and he s going to be one hell of alucky guy.&.*-: '3"/,-*/Harley thanks him with her eyes, and feels herself swayback back to when she d never even seen a picture of Jamesand forward to now where they ve been together and won t beagain and further forward, to what lies ahead.Maybe someonenew, or maybe James, still, but somewhere else.Anywhere buthere in Rejection Central. We still haven t fixed the problem, the commander says. We re sending ski patrollers to rescue stranded passengers.They ll traverse the cable using rescue equipment. Like James Bond! James says. I can t believe you re happy about this, Harley says. Well, we are missing cupcakes, James says.He takes herhand, squeezes it, and waits for further word from the ground. They ll have to take us down by snowmobile. Yep, Harley says. See? Another point in your favor, James says. So manygirls would be freaking out up here about all this.Harley shakes her head, shoving her hurt way inside. Notme.I don t get flustered by sudden situations. She looks at Jamesagain, wondering if they ll meet some other place or if they llhook up again this season, and if it would mean anything.MaybeI don t need to be his girlfriend, Harley thinks, as long as I m ableto be near him.I can work my way into his life, being his friend, andthen boom suddenly we can be more. Well, then I ll tell you something else, James says. I m tak-ing off tomorrow. What? Harley s voice goes high up with concern. Why? A race more training.There s a place called Der Vanni-more over the border guess coach thinks it s best I go there fora while.#BMBODJOH "DUTHarley doesn t know what to say or what to do.Her reasonfor being at Les Trois is trickling away. Hey, James says, trying for levity. Don t look so sad. Hereaches inside her bag. Here let s split a carrot.They stay there, sharing the carrot, suspended from theground, both of them waiting for their rides back to earth.&WFO PO ZPVS EBZ PGG ZPVµSF TUJMM POo, Dove says, cradling the phone as though²it were actually attached to William. We/should have a day off, but we don t.Just call itanother mark on the board of the unjust.She says this, and then wonders if maybe she should also addherself or her actions to the same board.She and William arepast the hellos, and despite starting the conversation filled withanger about the fact that William bagged the ritual call, Dovenow finds herself so guilty about the stolen kiss with Max that shedoesn t even bring it up. Have you forgotten what today is? William says. Oh, you didn t mean my day off? No, something else. William s voice sounds different now.Of course it s the same tone, the same person maybe it s justgoing longer than one day without hearing him.Or maybe it sthat tiny fraction of her that s broken away.#BMBODJOH "DUT Tell me then, Dove says.She sits on her bottom bunk, phoneto her ear, her feet splayed onto the springs above her. Exactly twelve days until I see you. William s smile isaudible Dove can imagine it, how one side slopes up a littlehigher, how those quirks were the kinds of details that madesomeone hard to forget.She thinks of Max, how the hair thatfalls onto his forehead covers a scar way up into the hairline fromwhen he d jumped into a swimming hole as a kid and bashedhimself on a rock.She feels guilty for knowing that, too, eventhough it s innocent when compared to a kiss. Twelve days and then I ll be with you, Dove says. It stillseems unreal. Well, get real, William says. You ll love it here Nevisis like this untouched beauty.Except that it s been touched bya lot of wealthy vacationers. He laughs. But that s not sucha bad thing I mean, it is affording me my life on the SeventhWave [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]