The-Lucky-List-Rachael-Lippincott

My voice trails o and I hold up the glove, the entire thing flopping limply to the side as I slide out
of our room like the most awkward person ever, the door clicking shut behind me.
I groan, rubbing my face. I’ve got to find Matt. And fast.
I head down the stairs and outside, past Aimee and Ashley Campbell. e pair intentionally turn
their backs to me and make a huge show of whispering back and forth, in a pointed display that could
only be about one thing and one thing only.
Sighing, I step out into the aernoon sun, its rays bright and warm as it shines on the winding path
down to the lake, wooden signs leading the way through the trees.
I pass a few classmates as I walk, all of them giving me pointed looks while I try to focus on the
sunlight filtering through the tree branches, the path just in front of me, Matt in a gray T-shirt and
turquoise-blue swim shorts.
“Matt!” I call out, and he turns around to face me, Jake next to him. “Can you talk?”
He nods and smiles faintly at me, but there’s a small barrier still between us. A barrier I need to find
a way to get over.
“I’ll just… go.…” Jake’s voice trails o, and he points behind him with his thumb, disappearing down
the path and out of sight.
I take a deep breath, knowing I need to be honest with him. About what happened at junior prom.
About this summer. About the list, preparing me for this moment. I can’t just skate past it and ignore.
“Listen, I am so sorry. What I did was… really terrible.”
He swallows, his thick eyebrows furrowing, his eyes guarded.
“I think I just felt like things… didn’t feel right between us. And I think that was all on me. I didn’t
feel right, and I did something really, really stupid.” I want to be on the same page. So for the first time
in our entire relationship, I lay it all out on the table. “But this summer I found my mom’s bucket list
from the summer before her senior year of high school, and it changed things.”
I see his face soften at the mention of my mom, and it keeps me talking.
“I’ve changed. Really changed, Matt. I spent the summer checking o all the items, and… I’m out of
that little box I’ve been keeping myself in,” I say, repeating his words from that one fight we had. e
thing at the core of all our problems. “And I know you haven’t seen me much, but I know you’ve
noticed. I know you know I’m more like… well, like how I used to be. I’m on this lake trip. And, I mean,
you caught me skinny-dipping at the Huckabee Pool. I think we both know that Emily from two
months ago would have never done that.”
“Yeah, that was surprising, to say the least,” he admits, and I know I’m getting somewhere.
I take a step closer, looking up at him. “I know we’ve broken up before. I know you’ve given me a
lot of chances in the past. But this time is different. I’m different.”
He takes a deep breath, looking away from me. “I don’t know, Em… I just…”
“Let me prove it to you,” I say quickly. “is weekend. Let’s just, I don’t know, hang out. Let me
show you I’ve changed.”
He’s silent for a long moment, and I hold my breath, counting the seconds. Finally, I see him frown,
and my insides turn to ice. “What’s with the dishwasher glove?”
Relief floods through me. I sheepishly hold up the glove in question. “I got a tattoo a few days ago,
and I need to keep it covered for kayaking.” I hold out the tape to him, hope pushing me forward. “You