His sister’s eyes narrowed. “Nah. I want you to take me quad-biking next time you go with Forde.”
I stifled a laugh.
“You know that’s not up to me. Mum would kill me.”
“That’s my offer.” She crossed her arms over her chest and shrugged.
This time I couldn’t help my snort.
Quinn shot me a mock betrayed look before turning back to her. “Fine. But you walk home ahead of me and Taran until we move to the farm.”
My curiosity piqued at that.
Something shifted in Cammie’s eyes as she looked between us and suddenly grinned, like she knew something the rest of us didn’t. “Fine. Deal. Bye, Taran!”
“Bye!” I called out belatedly as Cammie took off at a run, her backpack bouncing against her lower back.
Quinn wiped the wet hair off his forehead with a sigh as he turned to me.
His blue eyes looked extra blue today, and I felt the now-familiar butterflies at being alone with him.
I didn’t know when my feelings toward Quinn had changed. One day he was my friend, one of my favorite people … then about a year or so ago, I started to get this funny feeling in my tummy every time he smiled. That sensation grew and grew. When my friends started getting boyfriends and talking about kissing, I began to wonder what it might be like to kiss Quinn. And when my friend Helen told me her big sister had told her that her friend Kiera, who was in Quinn’s class, fancied Quinn, I’d felt a flush of outrage at the thought of any girl going out with him.
Then it occurred to me Quinn was fourteen.
Maybe he’d been kissing girls for a while already and I just didn’t know about it.
The thought depressed the heck out of me.
But my more-than-friends feelings for my best friend didn’t matter if he was about to tell me he didn’t want to be friends at all anymore.
Quinn was more social than I was. He was always out doing something, whereas I’d rather read a book than hang out with a bunch of people. When it was just Quinn, it was fine. It was great. But otherwise, I preferred my own company. Maybe that had become boring for him.
I nibbled nervously on my lower lip, feeling a rise of anger as Quinn just stared at me. The anger was bred from a deep hurt,and before I could stop myself, I snapped, “If you don’t want to be friends anymore, just say so.”
Quinn’s eyebrows rose as he gaped at me. His cheeks flushed a ruddy color as annoyance flashed in those blue, blue eyes. “Why would you think that?”
Tears thickened my throat. I always got tearful when I was mad and I hated it! I swallowed hard, turning away. “Because,” I choked out. “You’ve hardly spoken to me for two days and since Forde moved here, I guess I’m boring now or something.”
“Shit.” Quinn suddenly stood in front of me, shaking his head.
These days, I had to look up at him. He’d had a growth spurt and was the tallest boy in his year. Right now, I didn’t understand his expression as he searched my face. “What?” I asked sharply.
Quinn opened his mouth to say something and then slammed it closed.
The truth was he wasn’t the best at talking about stuff. He’d sit with me while I talked about all my feelings and he was such a good listener and way more sensitive than most people knew. But he rarely talked about howhewas feeling. Somehow, I still knew. But not anymore. Now he was hard to read, and that hurt too.
I huffed and moved to walk around him, but he stepped to the side, blocking my path.
“Kiera asked me out,” Quinn suddenly blurted. “Kiera Donnelly.”
Like he had to say her surname for me to know who he was talking about. Kiera Donnelly was one of the bonniest lassies in school. I felt sick.
“Oh. Good for you,” I muttered, trying to walk around him again.
Quinn blocked me. “Nah … that’s not why I …” He suddenly grabbed my biceps to stop me. “Will you please just stand still so I can get this out? It’s taken me weeks to get up the guts to say this, and you keep moving.”
I gaped up at him, at his sudden intensity.
