“Offering you these. I think you need them.”
“Ha ha ha,” I replied dryly. “You put those on before you drop them.”
She poked her tongue out. “Shut up.”
“Never.”
She stared at me for a moment, then said, “Thank you.”
My eyebrows lifted. “For what?”
“For this weekend.”
I didn’t speak, waiting for her to elaborate.
She dropped her chin and fiddled with the tassels on her scarf. “I’m glad we were able to clear everything up. From prom.” Her voice almost wavered, but she cleared her throat and looked back up. “As much as I wish things were different, I’m glad I know the truth now.”
I reached out of the open window and cupped her chin, my mouth curling into a small smile. “You’re not half as glad as I am. Do you think we can move on now?”
“Mostly.” She tried desperately to keep a straight face, but as always, her eyes gave her away. “I might still hold a little bit of a grudge. For a while. You know. As a woman.”
“Oh, of course. I would expect nothing less.” I leaned over. “But don’t forget, you’re still technically my fake girlfriend.”
All semblance of amusement dropped. “Oh, for fuck’s sake.”
“I’ll fix it,” I said hurriedly. “I’ll fix it.”
“Do you promise?” Holley asked, backing away from the truck.
I waited for a minute then said, “No.”
Then I pulled away before she could respond.
I was in so much fucking trouble.
A part of me wanted to keep up this charade. It kept her in my life, gave us a reason to talk, and after last night…
Shit, after last night, that was all I wanted.
Holley in my life.
Even if she was only ever my friend, if we never acted upon what I’d intended to on prom night. We were different people now, after all, and nothing was guaranteed.
But having your best friend back was more important than anything else.
I just needed to get that message through to that little shitty piece of my heart that hoped there was a chance for something more.
Before I turned into a goddamn schoolboy with a crush and fucked the whole lot up.CHAPTER FOURTEEN – HOLLEYrule fourteen: your pants will not, in fact, set on fire.“So that’s it?” Kinsley made the turn into the retirement home and flicked off her blinker. “You’re telling me that his granddad thinks you’re dating, and you have to go along with it?”
“Yup.” I popped the ‘p’ as I looked out at the expansive building that housed the White Peak seniors.
Sounded like a pop band.
A very, very cheesy pop band.
“I mean, I assume that’s still the case,” I continued, unbuckling my seatbelt as she killed the engine. “Seb said he’d talk to his family, but he had to see his doctor this morning so I haven’t spoken to him to be able to confirm it.”
“Seb, huh? Wasn’t he Sebastian just a few days ago?”
“Shut your ass.” I glared at her over the top of her car, ignoring her smirk. She knew as well as I do that this past weekend had changed just about everything, and I was struggling to adjust to my new view of my world and our history and how everything fit together.
I had never had closure over the ending of my friendship with Sebastian. For ten years he’d been the closest person to me other than my sister and my best friends and losing him had felt as if someone had reached inside of me and ripped out a piece of my soul.
But now that piece of my soul was back, and despite the wedding, I didn’t know what to do about it.
Ever since he’d taken me to pick up my car yesterday morning, I’d had some much-needed space from him and our… situation. I was hesitant to call it a relationship because I didn’t really know what defined it just yet, so ‘situation’ was definitely a better descriptor.
Sadly, the clarity I’d hoped would magically slap me on the ass hadn’t happened.
The only thing that’d slapped me on the ass was the freezer door when I went for more ice-cream.
Such was my life.
Maybe the universe was trying to tell me something.
Like to stay out of the freezer.
Quacking from the duck pond filled the air. It wasn’t what I’d consider a nice, calm quacking—not that I was sure there was such a thing, if you asked me all quacking sounded somewhat violent—but this was…
Intense.
“What the hell is going on here?” Kinsley asked, shoving the car door shut.
“I have no idea, and I’m not entirely sure I want to find out,” I admitted, following suit and heading toward the front door so we could sign in at reception.
I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to sign in, but here we were.
Besides, the seniors were expecting us. It wouldn’t go down well if we backed out now.
We signed in using the guest book at the front, took visitor badges from the new nurse at reception, and headed straight out to the expansive back yard where it was freezing.