She wished he would go away. Because she wanted to curl up in her bed and take everything he had told her and unwrap it like a special present for her to look at in private. She wanted to do that for the whole night. She felt inundated with change. And she wanted a moment by herself, but he wouldn’t give it to her. Damn Flynn Wilder.
That he remembered that moment … She didn’t quite know what to make of it.
“Your turn,” he said.
She made a huffing sound. “Well, when you’re in high school, and the boy’s two years older, it doesn’t actually seem like that big a deal.”
“Did you have a crush on me in high school, Jessie?”
“This is why I didn’t want to tell you. Because you’re going to go romanticizing it.”
“That’s me. Hopeless romantic.”
She growled. “No, I just … You know I thought it was really sad that you were so handsome, because your family hates mine so much. I knew I could never go on a date with you. And so I was mean to you sometimes.”
“You were mean to me in high school?”
“You didn’t even notice? That’s kind of insulting. I ignored you.”
“I mean, I was ignoring you because I was a senior and you were a sophomore.”
“Right. Well. You noticed eventually.”
“That you were mean? True. I did.”
“Well, that’s why. Because that’s what I’ve learned. You don’t act like you want something. Once you do, you just feel bad. And acting like I do isn’t necessarily a way to get what you want … I did, though. It just took a while.”
“Are you telling me this was a long con? Are you even running for mayor, or were you just trying to get in my pants?”
She laughed. Grateful that he was being ridiculous. Because if their talk got any more serious, she was going to chew her own arm off. “You caught me. It was all an elaborate ruse.”
“I really hate to tell you this, but all you had to do was ask.”
“Well, I like to do things the hard way.”
She lay there for a long moment, and she really did want to push him a little bit. Ask why he hadn’t made a move on her, since he liked her and all.
But the words stuck in her throat. Because everything felt a little bit raw, and she wasn’t sure how deep into the conversation she wanted to get.
Instead, she didn’t say anything.
“Your family is going to know I spent the night,” he said, pulling her close.
“My family already thinks we are sleeping together.”
“Why didn’t you tell West that it wasn’t real?”
“I don’t know. I guess because it was embarrassing.”
“My family knew.”
“Yeah … I love my brother, but we don’t share things with each other, really. We perform together. The show is such a big part of our lives. But there are certain things we don’t talk about. I think that’s true for the whole family. It’s funny, because my parents don’t actually care what we do. You’d think that would mean we talk about everything. But instead it just … It’s like a facade. Of being open and sharing our feelings, but we never really do.”
“Why is that?”
She curled her fingers into fists underneath the blanket. She didn’t want to say. She didn’t want to tell him that half her problem was that even though her parents could be wonderful people, she felt really angry at them. If she were truly honest, she would have to get into all that stuff, and she just didn’t want to.
So instead she grabbed hold of his arm and rubbed her face against his skin.
