Roadkill
Michelle Jillian Bailey
They crouched down in their normal spot. It was slightly lower than the two-lane highway in front of them. The drainage ditch sloped down and away from the road. Sometimes, during extremely heavy rains, the massive lake on the other side of the road would deluge, and water would flood their sanctuary. They had been doing this together for years. And yet. And yet, this time she was acutely aware of the heat radiating off his bare skin. She had noticed over the past several months that being around him jumped her heartrate and flushed her face. They had been best friends since birth, there wasn’t a memory that didn’t contain him in some way. And now, at thirteen, her palms began to sweat at the incidental contact of their arms.
He turned and smiled at her.
