He turns slowly, gingerly, to face her. Their eyes meet, and his mouth instantly goes dry, his chest tight and his heart hammering against his ribs. It's a feeling he's never felt in his entire life, and it too feels good.
She isn't April.
She gets him. Gets him better than maybe even Casey does. And it's weird and terrifying and he doesn't know what to do. So his eyes just dart away, somewhere safe, somewhere off to her left, and he cracks a split-lipped crooked grin. It hurts, but he doesn't care.
"Good thing I wasn't all that pretty to begin with."
The joke sounds lame even as he says it, but that doesn't make it any less true. His face really is a mess. One of his eyes is practically swollen shut, and there's a cut on his forehead that's covered the rest of him in sweat-mingled blood. But at least he doesn't have to worry about winning no beauty contest.
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She isn't April.
She gets him. Gets him better than maybe even Casey does. And it's weird and terrifying and he doesn't know what to do. So his eyes just dart away, somewhere safe, somewhere off to her left, and he cracks a split-lipped crooked grin. It hurts, but he doesn't care.
"Good thing I wasn't all that pretty to begin with."
The joke sounds lame even as he says it, but that doesn't make it any less true. His face really is a mess. One of his eyes is practically swollen shut, and there's a cut on his forehead that's covered the rest of him in sweat-mingled blood. But at least he doesn't have to worry about winning no beauty contest.