One of the girls squealed ahead of us.
“Just that I had a strange urge to tell her all my secrets,” I admitted.
“Secrets, huh?” he asked.
I nodded fractionally.
“That girl has a way of getting people to open up,” he said.
“Must run in the family.” I cursed silently, knowing the comment hedged dangerous territory.
David didn’t respond right away, but eventually asked, “Do you feel like I’ve opened you up?”
“Ah, well . . . maybe a little,” I said, embarrassed.
“I only wish it were more,” he said casually. Even in the dark I could feel him peering down at me, trying to see me clearer, the way he sometimes did.
Without even looking at him, I said, “Thatis the problem, right there.”
“What is?”
“The way you look at me. The way I look at you. It gives too much away. That’s what your sister told me. For Christ’s sake,” I said, turning to face him. “She thought we were dating.”
“So I can’t look at you anymore?”
“Just don’t look at melike that.”
“Like what exactly?” he asked, amused.
“She said she’d never seen you look at anyone the way you look at me.”
His expression stilled as he took an audible breath but didn’t respond. We stood back from the crowd, watching them in silence.
“Are you really going to stop seeing Dani?” I asked.
He tilted his eyes upward to the sky and groaned. “I shouldn’t have said anything. But yes.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I do want you to be happy, I just . . .” I bit my lip to keep the words from coming out. “You know.”
“No, I don’t know,” he clipped. “I didn’t do it for you anyway.”
“I know.”
“This is too much, Olivia, you know that?”
“What is?” I asked, taken aback.
He shoved a hand through his hair. “Nothing. Just never mind.” With one last look, he turned and walked away.
I fought with myself, angry that I was doing this to him, to all of us. I wanted to go after him and make things better, but his departure had an air of finality. Instead, I took the last few steps to where everyone else had congregated. Steve smiled shyly at me and commented on how inspiring the skyline could be. I looked across the roof at David’s shadowy figure. He faced Lake Michigan while taking a long pull from his beer bottle.
“Is that your boyfriend?” Steve asked.
I looked back at Steve. “No, just an overprotective friend.”
“Oh,” he exhaled, looking relieved. “I’m glad. I know this is forward, but I was hoping you might like to go out sometime.”
I gave him a sympathetic look and held up my left hand.
