Instead, I put my arms around him and rest my chin on his shoulder. He wraps his arms around my back and holds me close.
* * *
When I walk in the door, Phillip is at the microscope.
“I just walked in,” he says to me, taking his attention off the lens to greet me. “How was the tasting? I’m so sorry I missed it.”
I want to snap at him for skipping out on me again, but I take one look at his bloodshot eyes and keep my frustration to myself.
“It was delicious,” I say as I sit next to him. “I was sad you weren’t there.”
“Me too.” He puts one eye up to the lens. “How’s dance class going with Brayden? Is it working out okay?”
I stare at his bent head. “Yeah. It’s going well.”
“Great.”
“Phillip…”
“Yeah?”
“Phillip, I really need to talk to you.” I wring my hands next to him. “Please give me just one of your eyes while you look into that scope.”
He shifts so his left eye is focused on me. “That better?”
“Perfect. Phillip, I met Brayden twelve years ago. Before you and I started dating.”
Two eyes are on me now.
“How? Where?” His voice is breathy and tense.
“I was at a party after a football game.”
“You don’t go to parties.”
“I know. But I did—this one time. And I was attacked.”
Phillip’s head is now fully upright as his attention fixes on me in a way I can’t remember him doing in years.
“Tell me everything.”
So I do. I tell him about Noah, and how he dragged me into the bedroom, and how Brayden was standing outside it when I escaped.
“He made sure I was all right, and he wanted to kill Noah, but I didn’t let him.” My voice breaks, and Phillip pulls me into a hug.
“I’m so sorry that happened to you, Lei.”
I raise my head to meet his gaze. “Brayden was my first real kiss.”
Phillip’s arms go rigid around me. “He was?”
“Yes.”
“But you didn’t…have sex with him?” Phillip’s voice is calm.
Eerily calm.
“No. You know you were my first.”
