All My Firsts: Up in the Treehouse, Center of Gravity, Weight of Regret

contents Up in the Treehouse Prologue I. Graduation Night 1. Mistakes (part one) 2. The Treehouse, The Bully, & Breaking Benjamin 3. Mistakes (part two) 4. No Sex In The Treehouse 5. Destroyed 6. Darkness (part one) 7. Up In The Treehouse 8. Darkness (part two) II. FOUR YEARS LATER 9. Bonney Lake, WA 10. Reunion 11. Chloe Rivers 12. Losing Light 13. Too Much, Too Soon, Too Late 14. Walking Away 15. The Confrontation III. SECOND CHANCES 16. Coping 17. Lucky Clover 18. Like Old Times 19. Teamwork 20. Fro-Yo 21. Star-Struck IV. REBUILDING 22. Tinkering Around 23. Angels Fall 24. Friendship Spooning 25. Detox V. DEAR CHLOE 26. Chloe’s Journal 27. Never Stopped 28. Chloe’s Journal 29. Almost Home 30. Chloe’s Journal 31. That Night 32. Chloe’s Journal 33. Surviving 34. My Favorite Day 35. Significance 36. Of All People VI. STAY AND PLAY 37. Scrunch Buns & Band-Aids 38. Stay 39. My First, My Last, My Only 40. Reservations VII. GISELLE 41. Bad Weather 42. Confessions 43. Costumes 44. Celebration 45. Time VIII. HEROES & LEGENDS 46. Reflection 47. Moving On 48. Every Single Day 49. Dance With Me 50. Loving Me Epilogue Center of Gravity Dear Reader, Video Playlist cen·ter of grav·i·ty Part One - Audition Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Part Two - Rehearsals Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Part Three - Vegas Chapter 45 Chapter 46 Chapter 47 Chapter 48 Chapter 49 Chapter 50 Chapter 51 Chapter 52 Chapter 53 Chapter 54 Chapter 55 Chapter 56 Chapter 57 Chapter 58 Chapter 59 Chapter 60 Chapter 61 Chapter 62 Chapter 63 Epilogue - Six Months Later Epilogue Weight of Regret Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Dear Reader, Connect with me More K.K. Allen Books About K.K. Allen copyright This collection consists of works of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is coincidental. Copyright © 2023 by K.K. Allen Cover Design: K.K. Allen Editors: Shauna Ward and Red Adept Formatting: K.K. Allen All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. For more information, please contact K.K. Allen at [email protected] To first loves. up in the treehouse prologue The best kind of love is one that stems from friendship. One that grows as it's nurtured with patience and kindness, blossoming at just the right time. All it has to do is withstand the forces of nature that threaten to drown it, pluck it, blow it, and burn it until it withers back into its soil. As if it never existed at all. BRANCH ONE graduation night “SOMEBODY TOLD ME THAT THIS IS THE PLACE WHERE EVERYTHING'S BETTER, EVERYTHING'S SAFE.” ~ WALK ON THE OCEAN, TOAD THE WET SPROCKET CHAPTER ONE mistakes (part one) CHLOE His face twists, resembling an old string of holiday lights most would have given up untangling years ago. It's a messy, broken, and hopeless jumble of old memories…one that, for some reason, I can't bring myself to throw out. Just like my relationship with Devon Rhodes. Devon raises every red flag that exists, yet he could charm the pants off you and make you forget the difference between a red flag and a white one. He’s the type of guy who bends and breaks the rules because the rush is more than worth the risk. The one who’s always sworn he would never be in a committed relationship because—well, what's the point? The kind of guy—with his million and one problems, his dangerously good looks, and his strength that terrifies me—who somehow chose me. Now he's my string of hopeless holiday lights to deal with, but I can't seem to drum up the strength to untangle them again. Or maybe I just don't want to anymore. Anger rumbles from his chest and his nose flares as he spouts in my direction, “What the hell is this, Chloe?” Yellowed pages of my journal flap through the air with each flick of his wrist, taunting me from across my bedroom. How did he find that? Beer sloshes from a blue plastic cup that I know is not his first—or his last. As the liquid splashes on the old wood floors I can already imagine the stale but sour stench I'll be wrinkling my nose to in the morning. It should have been a fun, celebratory night filled with bad dancing, neighbors threatening noise violations, and possibly some skinny-dipping. The drunken mess standing before me is the wrong kind of bad I wanted to experience tonight. I'm still cloaked in my graduation gown, the rough fabric combing my skin, providing a false sense of security under Devon's heated glare. If only I could tuck my head inside it to avoid another argument. At least the cloth would muffle his words, obscuring his shouts the way tears are threatening to blur my vision. If only. It's no use asking him what he's referring