“Idoforgive you. Do you forgive me for hurting you?”
He smiles. “Of course I do. But I’m going to make this up to you. We’re going to Raven right now and are explaining it all to her.”
“What?”
Grabbing my arm, he pulls me to my feet. “I was the one who tore you guys apart and now I’m pasting you back together.”
Chapter Seventeen
Raven
While I’m working on my English homework, someone knocks on my door. I assume it’s either Carly or Addie, but when I pull the door open, I’m surprised to find Kylen and Beck standing there.
“Oh, hi,” I say, feeling my walls once again shoot to the roof.
Kylen looks super nervous, and I’m not sure what expression Beck wears. Maybe guilt? Regret? What exactly are they doing here?
“Is it okay if we come in?” Kylen asks. “We need to talk to you.”
“O…kay.” I widen the door and step back, allowing them to enter. I have no idea what this is about, but it seems Kylen’s nerves have just magnified by a hundred.
We stand in the middle of the room, the two of them across from me. We just look at each other. The room is so quiet I can hear the girls next door shrieking over some good news they got.
“Is this about the project?” I ask, noticing that Kylen hasn’t taken his eyes off of me once since he entered my room. It’s a total contrast to how he’s been the last few days, since we both were avoiding each other’s eyes.
“Not the project.” Kylen rubs the back of his neck and his free hand clenches and unclenches at his side. “It’s, er…” His chest expands and deflates as he takes a deep breath. “I know you wrote the song.”
My heart turns into an ice cube as panic pricks me from every corner. “W-what? No I didn’t.”
“I saw your face,” he says, voice hoarse. He clears his throat. “When the guys and I performed it at lunch. I know you wrote it, Raven.”
I spin around and fold my arms over my chest. I don’t want to outright lie again, but there’s no way in heck I’m admitting it to him. Did he really figure it out just by looking at my face? Geez, was Ithatobvious?
“It’s about us,” he says in a gentle voice. I hear him step closer to me. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up when I feel the warmth radiating off his body. “About what we went through at camp.”
I twist around and narrow my eyes. “You can’t just come into my room and start accusing me of things without proof. Do you really want to tick me off? Just leave me alone.”
“No, Raven, you don’t understand. You had it wrong all this time. We both did. You never got my letter.”
I take in the desperate look in his eyes. Whatever this guy is feeling, it’s genuine. Full of pain. “Letter?” I ask, my voice shaky. “What letter?”
Kylen opens his mouth, but then his lips snap shut and his brows furrow. As though he’s not sure how to explain whatever he wants to say.
Beck moves forward with an even guiltier look on his face. “It’s my fault, Raven. All of it is my fault.”
I gape at him. “What are you talking about?”
“Remember the dance?” Kylen asks. “How we…” It seems he can’t finish his sentence.
Tearing my gaze away, my throat feels as dry as a desert. Is he kidding? Of course I remember what happened at the dance! As if I’ll ever be able to forget it.
It was the weekend before camp was over, and it was a tradition for the camp to have a dance. Like many girls, I was super excited to share an amazing night with the boy of my dreams, dancing the night away in what I thought would be the perfect and best night of my life. It was like that at first. I wore the prettiest dress I owned, did my hair and makeup, and feltlike a real princess. When Kylen picked me up at my cabin, I really thought I fell into a fairytale. He looked so dashing in his suit, the most handsome guy in the entire world. His eyes shone so bright as he gazed at me with what I can only describe as love in his eyes.
The night was magical, the kind of thing people write songs about. I never imagined I would ever experience something like that, and I couldn’t believe my dreams were actually coming true.
Then we decided to go somewhere private. We strolled around the area, just the two of us and the beautiful nature around us. And then, under the beautiful night sky, we kissed. It was the most amazing thing I ever experienced in my life. I didn’t think I could ever be happier. I thought my heart would explode. We kissed again, and then again. Like we couldn’t get enough of each other.
And then I told him the three words I felt for weeks. I told him, “I love you.”
