Far more than she'd ever want to give me.
Liv lifted her head from the ground and pointed at me. "I know that face. Tell me."
"Why are we friends?"
"Because you need someone who's not afraid to tell you when you're being too much of an asshole, and I need entertainment."
I let out a harsh breath, looking at the forest in hopes that I'd see a curly blonde wolf through the trees.
No fucking luck.
"I want all of it," I said.
"All of what?"
"I don't know. All of it. The relationship thing." I tensed, gritting my teeth against the sudden onslaught of pain that stabbed into the skin on every part of my body.
I hadn't gone this long without relief from it in weeks.
I hadn't gone this long withoutKatin weeks.
"Are you serious?" she asked.
"When am I not serious?" It took extreme effort to get the words out.
"Fair." Liv continued stretching, ignoring my near breakdown in response to my pain. She was used to that. "My one experience with romantic relationships ended poorly, but when it was good, it was mostly about friendship. The sex was hot, but it was secondary. I miss the fun we had a lot more."
"I looked up relationships on the internet. It said I need physical attraction. Emotional connection. Mutual support. And shared experiences. That's a lot."
"When you put it like that, you're fucked. You and I are best friends, and we barely have half of those."
We both knew she was full of it. We may pretend not to care about each other on an emotional level, but we did. Deeply. We were family.
My pain started easing just a little.
"I've had all of it with Kat, in small bursts. I just?—"
Liv cut me off. "End up being an asshole?"
I grunted.
"Just try to be her friend, and be honest with her. Stop acting like a dictator. Sometimes, you have to take a risk with your heart. Maybe it'll work. Maybe it won't. Either way, it'll get you closer to where you want to be. Probably."
"I would much rather have certainty."
"Well, it's a certainty that Kat is going to hate you if you keep doing shit like this."
I wished Liv was wrong.She wasn't, though.
She stood up. "I need to finish my run. If she doesn't show by noon, call me, and I'll get a search party together. I love a good search party almost as much as I love an abduction."
She jogged out through the side gate with a wave over her shoulder that I barely saw.
She was right.
I needed to try... romance.
Fuck.
