Bad Girls Don't Die

Megan slipped away and flashed her date a smile. “Sorry, Luke, just be a second,” she said. As Megan dialed the phone, Mom took the corsage and pi

“Hey,” Carter said, nudging me, “let’s go outside for a second.”

I shrugged and followed him. He held the door open for me. The air was chilly, but there’s a chance I would have shivered anyway.

The sun was setting below the row of trees, and a few stars were already out and twinkling. It was lovely and clear.

“So how about this,” Carter said when we’d reached the sidewalk. He turned toward me.

Shiver, shiver. It’s just cold, I told myself.

“How about we don’t do the ‘just good friends’ thing tonight?” he asked.

I blinked. After we both got out of the hospital we’d made a mutual decision that, given what we’d been through, it was probably best not to jump into a relationship too fast.

“Too fast” had basically translated to “at all.” And it was cool—cool to have someone to hang out with, to joke with, to talk about architecture and photography and cheesy sci-fi movies.

But let’s be honest, it was still Carter. And he still had the softest blond curls and the bluest eyes and the best-smelling laundry detergent of any boy I’d ever met.

He might have expected me to talk, but I couldn’t, not at that moment.

“I’m not…I mean, Alexis, I don’t want to be just your friend. Not even just tonight. Every day. Every minute. I mean, maybe you don’t feel the same way I do, but I have to tell you. I can’t stand the thought that you might find someone else and never know how I—”

I put my finger to my lips. Shhh.

He shushed, then looked at me helplessly.

Once upon a time, I thought I knew a handsome boy named Carter, who always had the right answers and knew everything about the way the world worked.

I don’t know him anymore.

I guess he never really existed.

“I ruined tonight, didn’t I? I didn’t mean to,” he said. He shook his head, a

He took my hand and held it like I might run away. “Really?” he asked.

I smiled. “Really.” Then I kissed him again.

The front door opened, spilling light on us. Megan and Luke came out the front door, followed by Mom, who waited on the porch, camera at the ready.

“I’ll be right back,” I said to Carter.

I ran back to Mom.

“I have a boyfriend,” I whispered to her. She smiled. “Watch, I’m not going to cry.” “Don’t you dare. I’ll be home by midnight.” “Come say good night when you get in.” “Love you, Mom.”

“I love you too, Alexis,” she said. “You’re a good girl.”

I kissed her on the cheek and walked back to the car, happiness overflowing out of me and spilling up into the starry sky.

A good girl.

I can live with that.