She mouths dramatically,talk!
I shake my head, and mouth back.No. Absolutely not. You started this!
She rolls her eyes and whisper-hisses, “Say something!”
“Idid,” I whisper back. “I said hi.”
“That doesn’t count!” she whisper-yells.
“What am I supposed to say?” I hiss.
“I don’t know—ask him something normal!”
“Nothing about this is normal!”
“JUST TALK,” she breathes.
Out of pure, blind panic, the first thing that falls out of my mouth is—
“Uh, what are you doing?”
Bailey’s face drops in instant disappointment, and she immediately buries her face in her hands.
I lift both of mine in defence.
There’s a quiet sound on the other end of the line like he’s exhaling. “I’m… actually driving to you.”
My heart stumbles. “What? Why? Did something happen?”
He takes another deep breath and then—
“Okay… Mads, look,” Ryan says, like words are fighting to get out. “I need to tell you something. And I can’t wait anymore.”
My stomach drops.
He exhales, shaky. “I know Jacob put you through hell. And I know you’re scared that I might hurt you like he did. I get that now. I really do.”
Oh shit.
His voice softens. “But he doesn’t get to ruin this. He doesn’t get to ruin what we have. And I’m not gonna let him because this—whatever this is—it’s too good.”
My chest feels tight. “Ryan—”
“Please,” he cuts in softly. “Just let me finish. Okay?”
I close my eyes, and after a second he continues.
“I know we started all of this fake-dating shit thinking it wouldn’t change anything,” he says firmly. “But it did.”
My heart stutters, like it actually forgets how to beat for a second.
“Look… you’ve always been precious to me,” he continues. “From the first time I came over to Noah’s house and you tried topretend you didn’t eat all his cookies, even though you literally had crumbs on your cheeks.”
Bailey lets out a tiny snort beside me, but I barely hear it. Everything inside me is too loud.
“Even when your head was somewhere else. Even when you made a complete mess of everything. I acted annoyed because I liked seeing you get all worked up.”
My vision blurs.
