“She said she needed space,” I said. “So, I’m giving her that.”
West grabbed his water bottle from the grass and took a sip. “She’ll figure it out.”
“I hope so.”
A few hours later, after I’d finally gotten home, I paced my kitchen enough times that I swore the tile would fucking give out. So, I decided to call Dorian. Colt was definitely off the table after the stunt he pulled at the game, and I needed someone who had been through this crazy love shit before.
He picked up after a few rings.
“Hey, man,” he said.
“Hey.” I sank onto the couch, elbow on my knee, phone pressed to my ear.
“You good?”
“No.”
There was a beat of silence before he said, “This sounds familiar.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Remember when I called you freaking out about Noah?”
“Uh, yeah…” I shifted, rubbing the back of my neck.
“Well, now it’s your turn.” He laughed, but there was a shift in his tone when he continued speaking. “Alright, what’s going on?”
“Can I trust you?”
“I’m your brother. If you can’t trust me, this family’s way more fucked up than I thought.”
I groaned.
“Tell me.”
I exhaled slowly then said it before I could overthink it. “Ellie and I…might’ve had a fake relationship.”
After a pause, Dorian shouted, “Noah! You owe me twenty bucks!”
I sat up straighter. “What the hell?”
“I knew it,” he said smugly. “Noah was convinced it was real. I told her it was fake as hell.”
“You knew?”
“Come on, man. I think everyone at least suspected.”
“Mother fuck.”
“Well, what’s going on now?”
I scrubbed a hand down my face. “Now I think I went and fell in love with her.”
“Noah! Make it forty!”
“You’re fucking kidding me.”
“I bet her you’d fall before the Super Bowl. She swore you weren’t there yet. Guess I was more observant.”
