Colt tackled me in a hug. It was weird hugging him back. He shouldn’t have been five eleven or a hundred and sixty pounds.
He crushed me ’til I thought my lungs would pop. “I don’t know how you’ve put up with him all these years living right by you. Thank you,” he said in a thick voice.
A truth settled deep inside. I’d moved for Colt. At least partially. To get Dad away from him. And that’s why I kept Dad near me now. It kept him away from Colt and Mom.
I squeezed him back. “Love you, little bro.”
They gave me one last wave before heading in the opposite direction of Dad.
CHAPTER 12
blue
As soon as they were out of sight I opened the door to my room.
Anna’s head came up when I walked in. She pulled both AirPods out, put them in their case, and closed the lid on her laptop. “Is everyone gone?”
My eyebrows flicked. “Yup. It’s just you and me.”
There she went blushing again. Good gosh, she was beautiful. I’d been waiting all day for the crowd to disperse. All I wanted was to get this girl back in my arms like last night.
I sat on the edge of the bed, hiding the tremble in my hands. Then I scooted back next to her.
She turned sideways to face me. “Hi.”
I reached over and touched her cheek. “Finally. I have you all to myself.”
Her cheeks flushed. “Yeah.”
We lay there for a long while, staring at each other. I didn’t know what she was thinking about, but my mind was on one thing in particular.
I drug my bottom lip between my teeth. “You look a little cold. I think we should…exchange mysweatshirt.”
Her eyes fluttered wide and she let out a little gasp. “You remember that?” She giggled. “I’d forgotten.”
My brow raised. “How could you forget our code word for kissing?”
She shook with laughter and playfully slapped me on the chest. I caught her hand, lifted it to my lips, and kissed her palm.
“Okay, I didn’t forget.” She blushed deeper. I made this gorgeous girl incredibly nervous and it felt like a superpower. “I just…I haven’t let myself think about it in a long time.”
My head cocked, taking in that last sentence. “What happened to us?” Her face fell and she looked down, breaking eye contact. I raised her chin up, forcing it. “Anna, tell me the truth.”
She gave me a sad smile, taking a moment. Then she sighed. “You were supposed to come home for Christmas. We hadn’t seen each other in eight months. Then you called and told me you weren’t coming after all.” Her voice turned small and quiet. “I couldn’t handle it. So we broke up.” She shrugged like that was all there was to it.
But there was no way it was as simple as that. That sounded like a clean break. A mutual decision. But if that was the case… “Why aren’t we friends though?”
She didn’t answer. Just tugged her chin from my hand and fiddled with a stray thread on the sleeve of my shirt, saying nothing.
My fingertips trailed along her hairline. “Are things still complicated with your boyfriend?”
Her head shook almost imperceptibly. “No. There’s no boyfriend. Anymore.”
“No boyfriend?” I made myself sound forlorn for her sake, but I was doing all the fist pumps in my head.
She shrunk down a bit, looking a little sad.
“You have a boyfriend,” I whispered.
