I could only look at him for a couple of seconds at a time—he was too beautiful, and it made me feel all flustered and stupid. I had to take in his face in small glimpses, one feature at a time. Brown eyes that slanted downward at the outer corners when he smiled. Thick straight eyebrows. Full lips that could have been a girl’s, but didn’t look in the least girly on him. I took the joint he held out, inhaled and almost immediately started coughing. We’d been sitting on a basement couch talking for what felt like hours but was probably only about ten minutes. So far, I’d learned that Jax had moved here from Campbell River, that he had one older brother, that he listened to music that I’d never heard of, and that he used to be really into wrestling but had quit last year. I hadn’t told him much about myself. I was worried I’d say the wrong thing. A couple of times I’d thought he might try to kiss me, but so far he hadn’t. I wondered if I’d been imagining things, or misreading them.
