Page 115 - It Ends with Us

Kat ie noticed. She was sitting in the seat behi nd us an d I he ard he r say,

“Gross,” as soon as he lean ed over an d kissed me.
She was tal king to the girl next to he r whe n she sai d, “I can ’t believe Li ly
lets hi m touch he r. He wear s the same clothe s al most ever y day.”
Ellen, I was so mad. I al so felt aw ful for Atlas . He pulled aw ay from me
an d I could tell what she sai d bothe red hi m. I star ted to turn around to yell at
he r for judg ing someone she do esn’t even know, but he grab bed my han d an d

sho ok hi s he ad no.
“Don’t, Li ly,” he sai d.
So I di dn ’t.
Bu t for the rest of the bus ride , I was so an gr y. I was an gr y that Kat ie
would say something so ignoran t just to hu r t someone she tho ught was beneat h
he r. I was al so hu r t that Atlas ap peared to be used to comments like that .
I didn ’t wan t hi m to thi nk I was embar ras sed that an yone saw hi m kiss me.

I know Atlas better than an y of the m do , an d I know what a good person he is,
no mat ter what hi s clothe s look like or that he used to smell before he star ted
using my sho wer.
I leaned over an d kissed hi m on the che ek an d the n rested my he ad on hi s
sho ulde r.
“You know what ?” I sai d to hi m.

He slid hi s fingers through mine an d squeezed my han d. “What ?”
“You’re my fav orite person.”
I felt hi m lau gh a little an d it made me smile.
“Ou t of ho w man y people?” he as ked.
“All of the m.”
He kissed the top of my he ad an d sai d, “You’re my fav orite person, too, Li ly.
By a long sho t.”

Whe n the bus cam e to a stop on my street, he di dn ’t let go of my ha nd whe n
we star ted to wal k of f. He was in front of me in the ai sle an d I was wal king
behi nd hi m, so he di dn ’t see it whe n I turned around an d flipped of f Kat ie.
I probab ly sho uldn ’t hav e do ne it, but the look on he r fac e made it wor th it.
Whe n we got to my ho use, he took the ho use key out of my han d an d
unlocked my front do or. It was weird, seeing ho w comfor tab le he is at my ho use

now. He wal ked in an d locked the do or behi nd us. That ’s whe n we noticed the
electricity in the ho use was n’t working. I looked out the windo w an d saw a
utility truck do wn the street working on the power lines, so that mean t we