Chapter 4

“A little bit of fun,” Rachel corrected. She leaned into him and propped her chin on his chest to look up at him. “Nothing serious, unless you want it to be.”

Jason bent to rest his forehead against hers. “He might say no,” he whispered.

“He has a penis piercing,” Rachel whispered back. “He won’t say no.”

“Ugh.” Jason slouched back with a heavy sigh. “I don’t even know how to ask him. I mean, what do I say?”

Curling her toes onto the stool’s lowest rung, Rachel stepped up and placed her hands on Jason’s arms for balance. “Help me up,” she said, jumping a little to show him what she meant.

When she did it again, he grabbed her around the waist and hoisted her up and over, sitting her down on the countertop. She scooted back, bringing her bare feet up to rest them on Jason’s thigh. Then she reached behind her for a glass of tea. As she sipped it, she tapped the screen of his phone with her thumb, thinking.

Jason rubbed a hand up the back of her leg. “Can you ask him?”