“And if that never happens?”
“I’ll learn to deal with it.”
She turns back to the tv and studies the characters on the screen.
“Brin, what do you have to lose by telling him?”
“Everything.”
I mimic her, turning back to the tv, but we don’t play the movie. We sit in silence.
“We’ve known each other since we were kids,” she whispers. “He practically lived at our house.”
“Okay.”
“He’s family.”
She takes a deep breath.
“If I tell him, I could ruin a lot of things,” she continues. “I don’t know how to do life without him, so I guess I’d rather have him in my life than—”
“Lose him altogether.”
“Yeah.”
“What if not risking everything hurts you in the end?”
“As long as it protects everyone else, I’m okay with that.”
“You’ve got a good heart, Brin.” I rub her back, and she looks at me with a sad smile. “If he doesn’t see youthatway, it’s his loss.”
“Thank Em.” She leans into me, but just for a moment.
It’s like she flips a switch, and she’s back to Brinley, the energetic, crazy, loving girl I met on the second day of classes.
“Now, if you don’t mind, I’d love to watch a shirtless Ryan Gosling grace my presence.”
“Deal.”
Declan was kicked out of his own house. Not permanently, of course, but Zeke thought throwing a party to celebrate another football win would be fun. Which is how we end up working on the project at my house… in my room… on my bed.
“A little warning would’ve been nice,” Declan grumbles, flipping through our econ book.
He’s been going on and on about this party since we got here. Just when I think he’s done, he brings it up again.
“They knew you’d be over,” he continues. “That we would be working on the project.”
“We could’ve stayed at your place,” I say. “You do have a room there.”
“A room I bet you’ve been dying to see.”
“Oh, of course,” I tease. “I dream about it every night. I’ve been waiting for the moment you ask me tostudyin there.”
He laughs. I smile. And I hate the warm feeling that spreads throughout my body as he keeps his eyes on me.
“Seriously, though.” I shake my head as he rants on. “They just showed up with a crowd of people. What if we were doing it on the couch?”
“And why would we be doing that?”
