“How did I never hear about this?” Nick sits down and drags his chair closer as if he’s getting the best tea of his life. “When? How? Tell us everything, Queen. Leave no details out.”
I flip him the bird. “It was a long time ago.” When Bennet fans himself, I laugh a little. “You’re ridiculous.”
“This is literally the best kept secret in our friend circle,” Nick says, and I know for afactthat’s not true. He’s the one with the best kept secret… I just can’t tell him I know about it. So here I go, giving them the tea on me and Taylor’s one and only kiss and how I fucked it up by pushing her away.
“And?” Nick waits for more.
“That’s it.”
“You pushed her away, she cracks her head, her rocks fall out of her bra, and we all just go to Dean’s for a bonfire?”
“Yyyyup.”
“And you never tried again?” Bennet asks like this is bullshit.
“Hell no. Once scarred me for life.”
“Then you don’t know,” Bennet says, his leg bobbing up and down. “You seriously don’t know how she feels about you. You’ve never made a move on her to find out.”
“No. Because I respect her boundaries and I’ll never push myself on her like that. She wants to be friends so we’re friends. End of story.”
Nick leans back in his chair and gives me the side-eye. “Those wereyourboundaries, Conner. Not hers.”
“It was a trend. That’s all.”
“Is that what she told you?”
I glare at Nick. “Yes. That’s what she said. And then she laughed and never did it again.”
“Wow.” Bennet buries his head in his hands. “You really are the village idiot.”
Okay. That’s it, I’m drowning them both.
“She just did it to annoy me, probably.” I can’t even look at them anymore. I feel small and humiliated all over again.
“Since when does Taylor ever do something only once?” Nick asks. “Especiallywhen she knows it annoys you.”
I can’t really answer that. She’s forever annoying me, and I like it because she’s so cute when she does shit that annoys me.
Nick leans in from across the fire. “If it was just a trend that meant nothing, she’d have made you do it.”
“I pushed her away.”
“And the Taylor we all know would have just seen that as a challenge to push your buttons more and she would have jumped on top of you, tackled you to the ground, and kissed you all over just to make you mad and then she’d have laughed in your face.”
Time stands still.
Nick’s right.
My heart clunks around in my chest as I rehash that night and see everything differently.How flustered she got. How quiet she was at Dean’s afterwards. The long time she spent with Carly talking alone between the cabins…
“It wasn’t just a trend.” I stand up and don’t know what to do first—pack my camping stuff orhead to my car and leave it all behind. “I gotta go.”
Running into the woods, I ditch my friends and head to the only place I’ve ever belonged.
Chapter 11
Taylor
