“So nothing! I broke rules. I betrayed all three of you.”
Lincoln shrugged. “Seems to me you didn’t really betray anybody.”
“Are you even listening to me?” I practically shouted. “I can’t decide! I just can’t make a decision, so I called you all down here to make it for me. That’s how shitty a person I am. That’s how cowardly I—”
&
nbsp; “You could’ve dated us all,” said Donovan. “We wouldn’t have known. That would’ve been the act of a shitty person. But rather than hurt us, you brought us here to explain.”
Brody and Lincoln nodded. “Hey, at least you were honest about it,” my classmate said. “I mean, you could’ve easily—”
“But I’m being selfish,” I tried to explain. “I’m not strong enough to reject anyone, so I’m making you do it.”
“More like you’re putting it all out in the open,” Lincoln disagreed. “This is total transparency, Holly. You’re laying everything bare.”
I sat back in my chair, totally stunned. Are they crazy?
“Look,” said Donovan. “You obviously brought us here with an end goal in mind. Or at least an idea of how this should go.”
“Yeah,” Brody jumped in. “What exactly did you expect us to do?”
“I— I don’t know!” I practically shouted. “Get mad? Get pissed? I—I figured someone would drop out. Or walk out. And maybe someone else would back away.”
The guys looked at each other and laughed. I couldn’t believe it.
“Maybe I expected one of you to fight the other,” I said. “Shit, I don’t know. Maybe I expected to lose you all.”
“Is that what you wanted?” Lincoln asked.
“No, not at all!”
“Then what?”
I was suddenly upset. I’d pictured this going a thousand different ways, but this definitely wasn’t one of them.
“I—I don’t know what the hell I wanted,” I admitted. “Maybe this whole thing was a terrible idea. I just know I wanted to be honest. I never intended on hurting anyone…”
Lincoln folded his arms across his chest. “That sounds kind of admirable, actually.”
My eyes went to Brody, then Donovan, then back to Lincoln. I was at a loss.
“He’s right,” said Brody. “This was sweet of you. It was the best case scenario really, considering how your weekend went.” He winked at me and my heart melted a little. “You came clean.”
Twenty-Three
HOLLY
A waitress finally arrived, asking if we needed anything. Somehow it broke the tension for me. One by one the guys took turns ordering; a surreal little circle of my suitors and lovers, all talking casually. Ordering coffees and lattes as if none of what was happening here was a very big deal.
I’d expected outrage. Anger. Jealousy. Instead, there were none of those things. I felt like the whole world had gone opposite day.
“Well I’m here to stay,” said Brody, breaking the silence with a smile. “It’s up to you of course, but I still want to date you.”
The other guys looked at each other for a moment, then turned back to me.
“I want to date you too,” said Donovan simply. “I’m not going anywhere.”
My stomach twisted, like I was riding the first drop from the highest roller coaster.