Holy shit.

It finally happened.

And what do you know, I let myself kiss her and managed to ignore the alarms going off in my head: Danger! Danger! Step away from the girl! Step AWAY from the girl!

It was really nice.

When we’re done, she scoots over to the other side of the seat and buckles up. “We should probably go,” she says. “It’s getting late.”

“Oh. Right.” I turn the engine on and start backing out of the gravel road.

“Is everything okay?” she asks, for the second time tonight.

This time, I answer more enthusiastically. “Yes. Everything’s great!”

She chuckles. “Okay, Sunny Bunny.”

I look over at her. “Did you just call me Sunny Bunny? Man, Benny calls me Little Miss Sunshine. What is it with you people?”

“Well, my mom used to call me Sunny Bunny. I think you’re a lot like me. Always trying to keep things positive, for the sake of other people.”

I think you’re a lot like me.

I recall the words she said earlier. I think we both want the same thing.

Are we really that much alike? Is that why it’s so easy being with her?

We drive toward town, silence filling up the space between us. I turn the music back up.

“You’re taking me home?” she asks as we drive past Murphy’s Hill.

“Yeah. Is that okay? Or did you want to go back to the party?”

“No. Home’s fine.” Pause. “It feels weird calling it that. I mean, because it’s not my home. Not really.”

“Sure it is.”

“Why do you say that?”

“You live there with people who care about you.” I shrug. “That’s home.”

She doesn’t say anything.

“It’ll be all right, Lauren. You’ll see.”

“Two weeks is a long time,” I say on the way to her aunt and uncle’s house.

She takes a drink of her blue-raspberry slushie. “It really isn’t.”

“I think it is.”

“It’ll fly by. You’ll see.”

“I was a good friend, wasn’t I?” I ask.

She laughs. “The best. Until tonight, when you couldn’t keep your hands off me.”

“Hey, you’re the one —”

She throws a couple of Bugles at me. “Stop. We shouldn’t be talking about this.”

“So why’d you do it? Get my hopes up like that?” I pull into the driveway and put the truck into park.

“Colby, I didn’t get your hopes up.”

“You didn’t?”

“No. Look at it this way. Instead of dreading the game that could change your life in a hundred different ways, now you can’t wait for it. Right?”

Oh my God. She’s right.

“You’re brilliant.” She nods as she opens the door and hops out. “Hey, Lauren?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m really glad I ran into you tonight. It’s just what I needed.”

“Me too. Good night.”

“Good night.”

As I head home, I realize for once in a long, long time, I feel like everything is going to be all right.

Sunny Bunny. That’s me.