Dirty Little Secret

I pull my phone away from my ear to check the time. “Depends. What are you doing?”

He hesitates.

“I swear to God, if you say ATF.”

“Fine. I won’t say it.”

“Bro, you’re obsessed.”

He scoffs. “Like you’re one to talk. Whoever this mystery chick you’re banging is must have a magical pussy because it feels like I hardly ever see you anymore.”

It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell him off, but he’s partially right.

In the week since our trip to Gatlinburg, Stella and I have been damn near inseparable. Any time she’s not in class or with her roommate, she’s with me.

When she isn’t here tending to her newly planted garden, she’s parked on my couch studying, and I fucking love it. I love having her in my space.

If it were up to me, she’d be here full time. But I know she needs to be able to experience all life has to offer, which means living on campus while she’s in school.

Swear to God though, the day she graduates, I’ll be loading her shit into the bed of my truck and moving her into my place.

But before we can do any of that, the man I’ve called my best friend my entire life needs to know the truth about us.

I was hoping to tell Orion about us this weekend—for us to talk man-to-man, since Stella’s camping with friends, but she begged me not to. She said she wanted to be there too, and while I still think it should just be Orion and me, she batted those long lashes of hers up at me, and I found myself agreeing to wait for her.

Maybe that makes me pussy whipped—so be it. Stella Cartwright is well worth it.

Since I can’t say any of the things I want to, I settle on, “It’s more than fucking.”

“You have feelings for her?” he asks, his tone riddled with confusion. “Like, it’s something serious?”

“Yeah, man. She’s… she’s the one.”

“Damn, Samson.” He laughs. “Never thought I’d see the day.”

“Stranger things have been known to happen.”

“I don’t know, brother, I’ve never even seen you seriously date anyone and now you’re saying you’re with some chick and it’s serious, but I don’t even know her fucking name.”

I run a hand through my hair, tugging on the ends. You know her, brother, you’ve known her your whole life. “Yeah…”

“It’s almost like you’re trying to hide her from me or something.” A beat passes. “You’re not seeing Birdie, are you? Fuck, man, is that why you never want to come? You know how I—”

“Oh, chill. I’m not seeing your stripper.”

I can hear him exhale his relief. “Thank God.”

“You’re still obsessed with her?”

“Stalker level. I actually bought a membership to the club.”

“You ever think of just… asking her out?”

Orion laughs, but it’s void of any humor. “Man, like a girl like her would ever give me the time of day.”

“You never know, man. Objectively, you’re a catch.”

“But she’s a fucking queen.”

I shake my head, not knowing what to say to my friend. “You have fun tonight, man. I’m going to stay home. But think about what I said.”

“About asking her out?” he asks and then shrugs. “Maybe. See you Sunday?”

“Hell yeah—I’d never miss your mom’s cooking.”

“We’re actually going out. Mom won an award. But she wanted me to make sure you knew you were still invited.”

“Send me the details and I’ll be there.”

As I end the call, I see a text from Stella blinking at me from the notification bar.

Stella: I wish you were here.

Me: Me too, Luna. You having fun?

Stella: Yeah, we are. The guys are pitching tents. Hey… do you think there are bears out here?

Me: Uh… probably.

Stella: WHAT?!?!?!

Me: Chill, you’ll be fine. I’m sure people camp there enough that they stay away.

Stella: You think so? Now I really wish you were here!

Me: You’ll be fine, Luna. Just keep the fire going all night and make sure you don’t leave any food out.

Stella: Okay… Well, everyone wants to hike, so talk later?

Me: You know it.

I toggle out of my text screen, with a smile on my face. For as much as she loves her plants, Stella isn’t the biggest fan of the great outdoors.

I pull up the app for my TV remote, ready to binge-watching some Property Brothers to pass the time. I don’t know what it is about their show, but I fucking love it.

Three episodes later, my phone rings, with Stella’s name flashing across the screen. I slide my thumb across the screen, pathetically eager to hear her voice.

Except before I can get a word out, a deep, masculine voice greets me. “Samson?”

“Who’s this?”

“Gabe, we met—”

“I remember. Where’s Stella? Why are you calling me from her phone?”

“We’re at Central North—”

“What?” I shout, jumping up and grabbing my keys. “Why?”

He chuckles. “If you’d stop interrupting me, you’d know.”

“Fine. Speak.”

“She tripped at the campsite and twisted her ankle pretty bad. We’re in the emergency waiting room and she keeps asking for you.”