I want to steal a moment with her. Even if I only get a few seconds, it will be worth it.
I can barely hear the door as it clicks shut behind me, but it’s enough to startle Abby. She spins around with a gasp.
Her shoulders fall, and she presses her hand to her chest when she sees it’s me.
I don’t even give her the chance to say anything before I’m closing the distance between us. Whatever words were on the tip of her tongue die as my fingers skim across her temple, tucking her hair behind her ear.
Now that we’re alone, there’s nothing that could keep me from touching her. Well… besides her telling me to stop, but by the way she’s gazing up at me, I don’t think that’s what she’s thinking.
“Hi,” I say, taking another small step closer. There’s only inches between our bodies now.
I want to erase that space, too, but I do have a little bit of restraint. It might be minuscule, but it’s there all the same.
Her tongue swipes across her lips. My eyes track the movement before it disappears back into her mouth.
“Hey,” she whispers in return. She swallows thickly. “What are you doing out here?”
Lying could be an option, but that’s never been my style. I also really don’t want to lie to her. “I wanted a minute alone with you.”
My eyes roam over her face, trying to sense her reaction to what I just said. Her face stays composed for a heavy beat before she exhales.
Her eyelids flutter closed. When they open again, she’s staring up at me with equal parts warmth and sadness.
I can’t take it. My arms wrap around her, pulling her into me fully. She turns her head to the side, resting it against my chest.
We stand there in comfortable silence, basking in each other’s presence. My hands track up and down her back.
A part of me feels settled for the first time since she walked out of our house weeks ago. Having her in my arms feels right, like she’s the only one I’m ever supposed to hold like this.
“I miss you,” I whisper. The admission makes me vulnerable, but I can’t keep it trapped inside of me anymore.
I’ve kept how I felt to myself every time I’ve been around her. Telling her felt like crossing the friendship line we all are fighting to toe. But here in the quiet of this garage with her in my arms, nothing else matters.
Her arms tighten around my waist. “I miss you, too.”
One of my hands moves up to gently cup the back of her head. I press a kiss to the top of her head because I just can’t help myself.
She makes a soft, contented sound, settling farther against me.
“I hate this.” Her voice is so quiet. I can barely make it out from where she’s murmuring into my shirt. “I know we have to, but I hate it.”
Oliver. Oliver. Oliver.His name rings through my head, the only thing keeping me from saying, “Fuck it,” and forgetting about the reason we can’t be more than friends right now.
Still, it’s kind of nice to hear that she’s struggling with this, too. I don’t want to see her hurting, but it would be worse if I knew she was going about her life like nothing had changed. Everything changed that night.
“It hurts,” I admit. The words crack my heart open a little more, giving me the chance to get hurt even more than I already am.
Despite everything, I trust Abby. It’s not her fault that we can’t explore this relationship between all of us and see if it could actually work.
It isn’t anyone’s fault. It’s just shitty circumstances laid in place by shitty life events. All of it is held together for a kid I love with my whole heart.
She tilts her head back. Her long hair tickles my hand that’s resting on her lower back. Her beautiful eyes stare up at me. “It hurts a lot.”
There’s a glossiness to her eyes that I want to erase by force alone, but this isn’t the kind of thing that can be handled that way. Life and emotions don’t work like that.
I don’t know when exactly it happened, but the friendship I developed with her shifted into something else. There was always a flirty attraction between us, but it’s more now.
I feel tethered to her in a way I don’t want to sever. I don’t know if I could even if I tried.
