Emily said she was unattached, while Jesse didn’t utter a word. I spotted Sabrina and Emily share a look when he blatantly avoided the question.
Whatever they assumed, they’d be wrong, but I didn’t fault Jesse for not wanting to go into it.
“A few people are supposed to head to a bar after this,” I said, lifting a shoulder. “Would you guys want to go? I figured we’re all out anyway. And you’re good for the night, right, Jess?”
I caught Jesse’s brow lift at me, probably as shocked as I was as the words fell from my mouth, but he didn’t look like he wanted to strangle me.
Much.
“You go,” Emily said, rushing up to stand and eyeing the door as if she were itching to make a quick escape. “I’ve had enough reunion for the night.”
“Then I’ll take you home,” Sabrina piped up, shaking her head. “I’m not letting you take a cab home.”
“I’lltake you home,” Jesse said, grabbing her arm. “I don’t want you to take a cab home either.”
Jesse’s offer shocked the shit out of me—and all of us, judging by Sabrina’s and Emily’s frozen faces.
Sabrina’s eyes flicked to mine as Emily protested until she finally gave in. I was proud of Jesse and hoped he’d finally settle things with Emily enough to give him some peace.
Sabrina’s memory didn’t eat away at me like that because she’d never been mine, at least not outside my dopey head. But I wasn’t ready for our reconnection to end. Whatever was driving the need to be close to her again, I’d indulge for the next few hours.
“I actually live close to the bar and can walk home from there,” I told Sabrina as I watched Jesse shift to follow Emily out of the room. I had to laugh at how high school it felt to be dumped by my best friend so he could go hang out with his girl.
And after the past year, a little high school might be good for me, starting with the pretty blonde standing next to me.
I ambled over to the valet with Sabrina, both of us watching Jesse and Emily exit out the glass doors in the front of the hall.
“Well, that was a plot twist I wasn’t expecting,” Sabrina whispered in my ear, her gaze following Emily and Jesse.
“Same,” I said, coughing out a laugh. “But I’m glad. They need to talk.”
“They do,” Sabrina said with a slow nod. “They always seemed…unfinished. All that time they were together and how close they were, the way they ended dangled. Like a shoe waiting to drop for all these years. Am I making sense?”
She furrowed her blond brow at me.
“Yes,” I said, clearing my throat when I noticed my low rasp. “A lot of sense.”
“You’re something special,” I said, a wimpy way to start my confession as Sabrina rested her head on my bare chest. I’d been rehearsing my speech all day, but being this close to her robbed me of all my words. I’d have to go with short and sweet since I didn’t know how much I’d be able to force out.
“So are you,” she said, drifting her hand along the shadow of abs I’d acquired from my one season of track. She peered up at me, her smile making my heartbeat kick up enough for her to most likely feel it against her cheek.
My confession was right there, clogged in the back of my throat. I’d broken the rules of our arrangement, but since high school was over, maybe we could have a different one. An exclusive one where she’d be in my arms all the time, not only after some idiot broke her heart.
“And not only for this,” she said, motioning down our still-naked bodies. My mother had to know what we were doing up here, but we needed to get clothes on before I heard a knock at the door. She liked Sabrina, and judging by the smirk she’d sneak me whenever Sabrina would stop by, she knew I liked her too.
But catching us naked under a blanket? My mother wasn’t that cool.
And I didn’t want to tell Sabrina I loved her without pants on. It cheapened it, and what I felt for her wasn’t cheap. It was real, despite how hard I’d tried to convince everyone that we were just friends with occasional awesome benefits.
“There is no one else in my life, even Emily, who I can be this much myself around. I don’t have to hide anything or hold anything back. You let me be me. And somehow manage to tolerate it.”
“You’re pretty tough to take,” I tried to tease, tickling her side. I sucked in a long breath, clenching my eyes shut before I had to meet hers and finally tell her what had been eating away at me ever since I’d realized it.
I was in love with Sabrina. And now I had to tell her.
“Sab, listen?—”
“At least we’re not Jesse and Emily,” she huffed. “Did I tell you she was thinking about canceling her scholarship tonight?”
