“How honest do you want me to be?” I asked.
Mandi shrugged. “It’d be a novelty to hear what’s in your heart for once. What you’rereallythinking.”
Shit. Maybe Iwasthe problem.
“I have no idea what I think,” I admitted.
No one hadtold mewhat to think about Aiden. There was no roadmap. I had to figure it out for myself and all I had to go on were a bunch offeelings.
Feelings I didn’t entirely understand.
“I’m not gay,” I added. “I like girls.”
But I liked Aiden, too. The more I thought about it, the truer it was.
Not that it mattered. I’d asked him if he had a crush on me and he’d flat out avoided the question so he wouldn’t hurt my stupid feelings.
“And boys?” Mandi asked.
“I dunno,” I said, chewing my lip. “Maybe?”
You jerked off to the thought of Aiden this morning and you’re going with “maybe”?
“So yes,” Mandi said.
“Yes?” I blinked at her. How the hell didsheknow if I didn’t?
“If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be thinking about it. People who aren’t attracted to men don’t spend a lot of time asking themselves if they are.”
Well, when she put it like that…
“I knew you were faking it,” she added.
What? How? I hadn’t even told her that, although the look on my face would definitely give it away now.
“You couldn’t believe someone like Aiden would kiss you,” she continued. “He is hot, by the way. But if you’d already been dating you wouldn’t have been so surprised. I’ve seen that look right after kissing you myself.”
Right, of course she had. Mandi had made all the moves and I’d…
I’d been too polite to say no, and she was pretty, and it’d made my mom happy that I was dating.
Aiden wasn’t about making my mom happy, though. This wholeideahad been about making her unhappy.
And now it’d gotten out of hand and I had no idea what to do about it.
“Pinecone,” Mandi said, all of a sudden.
Pinecone?
Was I having a stress-induced stroke?
“Pinecone,” Mandi repeated, pointing down.
At a pinecone. Right. The scavenger hunt.
“Oh.” I blinked at her, then the cone, and then bent down to pick it up.
“No!” Mandi hissed. “Just take a picture of it. Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints. Rule number one of enjoying nature.”
