He Deleted My Number After 972 Messages of Love Chapter 29

He Deleted My Number After 972 Messages of Love Chapter 29

We came back from winter break, and the pressure before the SAT kept building. Even Luke started taking things seriously.

Ezra had a natural gift for STEM subjects. His math and science scores climbed steadily, and by the last two months, he was consistently near the top of our grade—sometimes even second on a good day.

Oh, and I was first. No big deal, just thought I’d mention it.

Ezra took first in the grade for math and science, but I beat him on the English section alone.

Don’t underestimate the reading section.

It might seem easy to pass, but it’s tough to ace. Ezra could never figure out why certain multiple-choice answers were wrong.

The explanation was always the same: [Not supported by the passage.]

The weather was nice on the day of the exam—no scorching sun, just a light, cool breeze.

Standing outside the test center, I couldn’t help thinking it was a good sign.

After all the tests were done, I went over the questions in my head and checked what I could remember. Just as I’d suspected—I’d done better than usual.

To celebrate, I had a couple of hard ciders at our class dinner that night. Noticing Jesse and Chloe hadn’t shown up, I had two more.

By the end of the night, I was stumbling. Ezra ended up carrying me on his back.

“Did you actually drink? You don’t smell like anything.”

I mumbled against his shoulder. “I rinsed my mouth.”

He bought it for a second. When we got to my building, he set me down and steadied me. “Get some water when you get inside. If you still feel off, remember to—”

I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him.

“Just kidding. I didn’t drink.”

His hand on my waist tightened. “Why not? I thought you wanted to celebrate.”

My ears burned. I always got flustered saying this kind of stuff out loud.

“If I drank cider, kissing you wouldn’t taste as good. I just had a peach drink.”

“Ezra, remember—your first kiss tastes like peaches.”

Here’s why peach: That day I’d run out of the broadcast studio crying, Ezra showed up and pressed an ice-cold peach drink against my cheek.

The clean scent of his uniform—sunlight and detergent—washed over me.

Backlit, he reached up and brushed down the messy tufts of hair sticking up on my head, grinning. “Look at you—you’re sprouting.”

My heart had skipped a beat back then. I just didn’t realize it yet.

I thought it was just frustration from dealing with Jesse and Chloe 🙂