June passed in a flurry of soccer practices, baseball tournaments, and kisses with Ben. Passionate kisses behind the barn. Sweet kisses under the tree limbs in the forest. Life-changing kisses under the starry sky, late at night, after everyone else had vacated the Sports Complex.
With every day that passed, every text she sent and received from Ben, every new thing she learned about him and revealed about herself, Rae fell a little further in love with him. And she let herself, because it felt safe. He was her safe place, and as June faded into July, she realized he was her best friend.
Ben’s jealousies hadn’t reared again, and though she’d thought he wasn’t being entirely truthful about why he wasn’t sleeping, she’d eventually gotten the truth out of him. She wasn’t sure Ben even had i
