“It-” Her question stumps me. She has a point there that I can’t argue. Katie says that her Evan swears it was love at first sight, at least for him. But it’s different for me, there has to be a reasonable explanation. There always is.
“I… I’ve never been in love before.” Maybe this wasn’t love, maybe it was simply lust. It’s said that it’s easy to confuse the two.
“What is love? Like… how do you know if you’re in love?”
“Aww, sweetie. You know what love is. It’s that warm feeling inside your heart every time you’re around them. It’s when all rationality flies out the window - forever. It makes you crazy, but it’s also the reason you stay with him.”
She sighs dreamily once again. I know she’s thinking about Evan as she speaks but hearing her words, they make her lovesick puppy persona not as annoying as usual. She shrugs, “That’s just my take, I’m sure everyone will have their own.”
I push myself deeper into the couch, needing a minute to collect my thoughts.
I’ve never understood how it can be so hard to read your own body - your mind and heart - but reading words on a screen is a cakewalk.
We must sit there in silence for five minutes, maybe more, before I turn to her. “What do I do?”
“Sorry, I can’t tell you that. Hell, I don’t even know what happened, but all I can say is, listen to your heart...”
Oh, right. We hadn’t even got to that part of the story.
“And you let me know if I need to kick anyone’s ass.” She’s dead serious, but I wouldn’t have expected anything less from my fiery redheaded cousin.
I stand to leave knowing, if nothing else, that this situation will need time.
Pausing at the doorway, I can’t help myself as I swing back around. “Be honest. Do you think Lane has feelings for me?”
“What?” Her eyes widen with surprise, “where is this coming from?”
“It appears that Hayden is the jealous type.”
“Oh. Now I’m starting to put some pieces together. Honestly? I’d never considered it before; he was always just kind of your on-again-off-again best friend. Now that you’ve mentioned it, I suppose it’s possible.”
“That’s what I was afraid of hearing.”
“Sorry, babe. But also, you won’t know the truth until you hear it from him.”
...And that’s just what I plan to do.
