I bite my lip in shame, knowing it was one of the stupidest mistakes I’ve ever made.
“And then they blocked you. You both ‘moved on,’ emphasis on the air quotes.” He puts his fingers down. “You made friends with this asshole David who told you about a Kamila in Driscoll who broke his heart. You then proceeded to ask for her last name, only to find out it was the same Kamila from high school.” Once again, I nod and can’t help but shrink at the brazenness in his voice. It feels different and sounds worse when somebody that I barely know is repeating a huge piece of my life back to me, especially when I’m the one who fucked it up.
“You believed the story he had told because it was easier being angry rather than continuing to miss her after all that time, but when you finally saw her again, you decided to keep it a secret because it was easy to continue pretending to hate her.” He pauses and takes another hit. “Let’s be honest here. You guys never really hated each other. You were two hurt, angry, vulnerable people manipulated by the same person.” Ethan dips his chin in my direction, agreeing with Chris. “Then, after fucking and all this other bullshit you put each other through, you were finally ready to admit your love for her until Ana and David found out about the two of you and vice versa. Now you’re waiting to see what to do next.” He lets out a deep breath. “Did I miss anything?”
“No, that about sums it up,” I laugh bitterly.
“Who ratted you out to David?” Ethan asks.
That’s a question I sought the answer to the day the damagewas done. “One of his friends heard it from someone I know, and they heard it from a close friend of mine. ”
I went off on Zoey once I found out she had told someone about me and Kamila. The girl doesn’t know how to keep her mouth shut. It’s better not to tell her anything at all. She didn’t mean for it to slip, and ultimately, everything was my fault for letting it get this far. She felt bad enough as it was, and I was too spent to be mad. Everything would’ve come out sooner or later. My main concern now and always will be Kami.
“Brother.” Ethan catches my attention again. “You fucked up.” Chris nods in agreement. “But you love the girl, right?”
My chest inflates at the word, and I drop my head, remembering how I let it slip that night. I regret the timing, but it doesn’t lessen the sentiment.
“Yeah, I really do.”
Ethan’s face lights up. “Then do anything and everything you can to get her back. Just don’t be stupid about it. I’ve been waiting too long for the two of you to get together.”
“I plan to fight for her Eth—wait, what?”
Ethan ignores my surprise at his last statement. “The poor girl isn’t only hurting because of you but is probably traumatized by David.” He gets a murderous look in his eyes, and I know the feeling.
I want to strangle the motherfucker.
“She’s also confused about how to handle Ana. Combine that with finals and her feelings for you, no wonder she responded the way she did yesterday.”
Nothing he’s saying is news to me, I guess I just needed to hear someone else confirm what I already suspected. When it comes to romance and relationships, I’ve had one experience, and not only was it nothing compared to what I have with Kami, but the consequences of how I handled it are still punishing me to this day.
Even though I know I’ll do whatever she needs and wants to have her in my life again, I haven’t come up with a concreteplan. This needs to go as smoothly as possible, which is why I called Ethan, who’s always been a hopeless romantic.
“So, do I just give her space?” I finally ask my cousin, hoping for an alternate solution.
Ethan smokes out some rings and smirks. “Depends.”
“On?”
“On what kind of leading man you want to be.”
Chapter Forty-Eight
KAMILA
“I’m right, guys….right?” I stare at Levi, who visited me after work to get some drinks. In this case, they’re mocktails. Tara and Abe also joined in on the conversation after I finished taking some pictures for our socials.
“I’ve worked as a bartender for fifteen years. People treat me like their therapist all the time, meanin’ I’ve heard some crazy shit. But this one…” Abe pauses as if contemplating. “Yeah, this makes it into the top ten.”
We all look at him with the same question in mind: what the hell is number one?
“Don’t ask,” he huffs out.
Tara leans over the bar. “How do you get any work done with these types of distractions?”
“Well, sleeping is a luxury nowadays with all the studying I have to do.” I shrug and finish the rest of the candy cane mocktail. It’s probably a terrible idea to drink something so sugary before my last Zumba class of the semester.
Too late.
