“I’m not, I swear.” She holds her hands up and crosses her heart. “I think he’s always cared about you. That’s just who Declan is. He’s that kid who gave up his allowance so that Jaxon could play hockey, even though if my dad wasn’t an ass, he could’ve paid for it anyway. He’s the kid who used to bake cookies for Zeke’s mom every time she finished a round of chemo. And he’s the guy who fell in love with a girl because he finally got to be his true self.”
“I miss him.”
“I know.” She frowns. “He misses you too.”
“I wish he would’ve just told me the truth. I wish we never went down this road. I don’t know if I can forgive him. Not because of what happened, but because he could’ve told me the truth at any time, but he didn’t.”
“He didn’t want to lose you.”
“That worked out really well for him.”
She fidgets with her rings.
“Come with me to the game.”
“Brin.”
“Not for him… for you. Because Declan’s not the only person on the ice who loves you. Plus, Tate has been driving me crazy, and I could use the buffer.”
“Okay.”
You’re here!” Tate’s arms are around me before I even see her. “I’m so glad you’re here. It hasn’t been the same watching games without you. Brin has been driving me crazy.”
I grin, turning back to Brin walking down the steps with Alex, who picked us up for the four-hour drive to the stadium.
“I’m happy to be back. I’ve missed this.”
And I have. I thought it’d be weird to be back, but the truth is, I still have people to root for. I still have people to support. And even though Cam and I aren’t talking, I can’t lie and say I don’t want this for him. I do. He’s waited his whole life for this moment.
“Beware, they could start making out at any point.” Tate motions to Brinley and Alex, and Brin reaches across my body to punch her in the arm.
“We will not! Don’t listen to her. 100% platonic, here.”
No matter how many times she tells us they’re just friends, there’s nothing just friends about this. She’s basically sitting on his lap, and they were cuddly the whole way here. Not to mention the goofy grin that’s been on his face ever since she said they’re platonic. The kind of grin that sayswe haven’t been just friends in a long time.
“I’m gonna get something to drink; you want something, baby?” he whispers, his lips practically pressed against her ear, but it’s not low enough for me to miss it. And from Tate’s wide eyes, she hears it too.
“Cherry coke?” she asks, smiling up at him, and he gives her a small nod and a wink. Then he looks at me and Tate, and we both shake our heads, but I think we just want him out of there as quickly as possible.
The second he’s out of earshot, Tate and I both mock him, “You want something,baby.”
Brinley throws her hat toward us. “Shut up.”
“Platonic?” I wonder.
“Maybe that was a bit of a lie.”
“One you’ve told me twice in twenty-four hours.”
“It’s new.”
“And you felt like you couldn’t tell us?” Tate asks.
“Well, we wanted to make sure what we felt was real.” She scratches her ear. “We’ve just spent so much time together; we wanted to make sure that it wasn’t just that. That there were actual feelings.”
“And?”
“He asked me to be his girlfriend a few weeks ago.”
