I shake my head. “Fuck, Anna is even a bigger bitch than I thought. But seriously Penn is an asshole for even listening to his sister. Doesn’t he understand why you’re scared? It doesn’t take a fucking PhD in psychology to work it out and he shouldn’t make you feel bad about it.”
She sighs, closing her eyes. “Darrius never said anything to me. When Anna taunted me about it, he told her to shut up, but I don’t know. Since then he started looking at me in a different way. Like I wasn’t his partner in crime anymore. It was the beginning of us drifting away. He was still my best friend and he was starting middle school, so I guess it made sense that he’d get new friends and I wasn’t always invited to join him. But that spark between us was gone and I guess it was the beginning of Darrius seeing me as this fragile, boring damsel—”
I get it, I do. And I have no business telling her that Penn doesn’t deserve one fucking ounce of her love and her loyalty. What we have with her is a deal of convenience for all the parties involved and it has nothing to do with feelings; aside from our feelings for Penn. Her need for revenge and our pleasure in messing with him is what brought us together. But Lenley is a cool chick and the more I get to know her, the more I hate the way Penn treats her.
“I get why you feel like you have something to prove, princess. But you seriously don’t.”
This time I don’t stop her when she slides off my lap. “I know. I just hate the way Darrius makes me feel like I’m a constant disappointment. Tonight he looked so jealous of me and Peyton and me not jumping will only remind him why he put me in the friend zone to begin with.”
“Ok,” I say, rising from my seat on the bed. “Then you’ll jump.”
She takes a step back, her eyes widening in fear, her hands clasped on her chest, where her heart is. “I can’t. I’ll freeze and have a panic attack like I always do. Jameson, I—”
I grab her hand, opening the door and dragging her out of the room with me. “Trust me, princess. This isn’t my first rodeo helping someone who’s scared of heights. It worked the first time and it’ll work tonight.”
She digs her heels in, forcing me to stop. “Who did you help?”
“Peyton.” I answer.
“Peyton? Don’t be ridiculous, he’s a professional skydiver, how could he be scared of heights?”
“It isn’t my story to tell, but his mom died in a plane crush. That’s why he decided to jump off of one, to honor her. But when he was supposed to jump, he was terrified and he froze. That’s how we met when we were sixteen. He was having a panic attack when he got strapped to the instructor and it was time to jump and I helped him get over it.”
She pulls on my hand, trying to stop us when we get to the stairs that lead up to the deck. “How did you help him?”
I smirk. “He was holding us all up, there were a few people waiting to jump, so I pushed him. He tried to kick my ass when we got to the ground but after a few punches, we talked and we’ve been best friends ever since. Now let’s go.”
She stops, her eyes wide with fear. “You’re not going to push me into the pool, are you?”
I clasp my fingers tighter to hers. “No, I swear. Do you trust me, Lenley?”
I see the doubt marring her beautiful features but it lasts just for a split second. “You were right about kissing. So, yeah. I trust you. But if you push me into that pool, you’re a dead motherfucker.”
Damn, I love the strength she tries to keep hidden under her softer side. It makes me rock hard every time. “Noted. Let’s go now, we have a few assholes to put in their place.”