“We can’t tell Jasmine,” I say.
“Oh, god.” He leans back and runs a hand through his hair. “Jasmine. I never should’ve...”
He clamps his mouth shut.
“What?”
He switches to sign.
“I never should have dated her.”
“Why did you?”
“I don’t know. I thought you wanted me to?”
I thought I wanted that too.
“And I thought you were unavailable. I don’t know. Looking back it doesn’t make any sense.”
“You thought I was unavailable?” I haven’t dated anyone since Cam. Everyone knows that.
“Don’t be mad.”
“At what?”
“I thought there was something going on with you and Bowie.”
I snort. He’s joking, right?
He’s not joking.
“I know better now.” He squeezes the back of his neck. “I don’t know. I know it’s no excuse for how I treated Jasmine. I just...”
“Just?”
“I just really liked you. So much. And I didn’t know what else to do. I thought I could learn to like her. And I did, just not enough. She was always pushing and it was getting weird and then, over break, when you yelled at your mom about you and Bowie, I just... I knew I couldn’t do it anymore.”
“So you dumped her to be with me?”
Liam looks like I’ve punched him.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” I say. “Just...”
He blows a breath out of his mouth. “Somethingsomething awful, doesn’t it? God.” He rakes a hand through his hair. “I was so mad at my dad. Like father, like son, huh?”
“No. It’s not the same. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Feels like it.” He frowns.
I take his hand, twine our fingers together. “I could’ve said something too. Told you I liked you before all this happened. But I thought you were into her.”
“She wasn’t the one making me shmoodies. Well, not at first. And she wasn’t the one who liked me for me. Not for...” He gestures up and down his torso.
I blush. “I like everything about you,” I say, pulling him in for another kiss.
“I like everything about you too.” He kisses my lips, my nose, then leans back. “So what do we do? What do we tell her?”
“Nothing. For now.”
