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“Okay,” she breathed. “Goodn—”
He hung up before she could finish.
She could only sit there staring at her phone screen, feeling like she had so much more she needed to say. To tell him how she truly felt.
Because somehow, softly, like a gentle fall breeze rushing through golden leaves, she’d fallen for her best friend.
Chapter Seventeen
Tyler didn’t show up at all the following week at school. Not seeing him in person was eating at Rory from the inside out. After their phone call, he ignored her texts and kept denying her calls. By day three, she stopped Zoe in the hall, feeling all kinds of shame that she had to find out how her best friend was doing through his girlfriend.
Zoe was gracious and said he still wasn’t well, but that she was delivering his schoolwork to him each day so he didn’t fall behind. “He won’t see me either,” she admitted to Rory. “I’ve only seen his mom.”
Her anxiety with each passing day swelled to an all-time high, and it didn’t help that Jay was officially home for his winter break and wanted to hook up with Rory—constantly. She’d tried distancing herself from him, saying she was busy with yearbook meetings or that she had homework that needed to be finished. But that didn’t stop him from finding opportunities to surprise her, waiting by her car when she was delirious from looking at spreads for hours in a dark computer lab, or knocking on her door far too late on a weeknight. He’d wrap her in his arms and kiss her deeply.
It was the Thursday after the game, and Jay was pulling her down onto the couch. His hands were roaming to places they hadn’t yet, and it made her nervous.
She stopped him. “Jay, come on.”
He groaned. “Rory, baby, I want you. Don’t you get that?”
“I know,” she whispered.
Rory tried pushing off those new feelings for her best friend. Tyler had cut her out of his life, and the idea of telling him how she felt would only make him leaving for college that much worse. So, she distracted herself with yearbook and school assignments and Jay’s hands and mouth, hoping that those feelings would eventually drift away.
Jay traced a finger down her neck. “Don’t you want me, too?”
Before she could answer, the lock on the door clicked. Jay bolted upright and fixed himself, flinging his arm over Rory innocently. She just sat there in a daze, looking at the microwave clock. It was 9:32 at night. Why was her mother getting home so early?
Gabi stepped into the house, eyeing her and Jay suspiciously as she closed the door behind her. “Well hello, I didn’t expect company this late at night.”
Jay jumped up, holding out his hand. “Jay Sanchez. I’m sorry for coming around unannounced.”
Gabi eyed Rory before shaking Jay’s hand. “It’s alright. But if you don’t mind—”
“I’m gone,” he said, grabbing his jacket from the kitchen chair and looking back at Rory. “See you Saturday?”
She nodded, her heart twisting in her chest thinking about being at the Festival of Lights with the Scoopers…but probably without Tyler. He was radio silent in their group chat as they made plans to meet up and watch the parade together.
Gabi took a seat on the couch, her eyes still on Rory. “Please tell me I didn’t interrupt something.”
“You did,” Rory admitted with a heavy sigh. “But honestly, it’s okay.”
“Trouble in paradise?”
“Just…trouble seeing it as paradise?”
“Ah,” Gabi said, flicking off her sneakers. “Do you still like him?”
Tears pricked her eyes. She glanced away so she wouldn’t notice. She really didn’t want to explain all of this to her mother. It wasn’t like she’d ever be around to help her with any of it.
Her silence must have spoken for itself, because Gabi let out a long breath before continuing. “I know you hate that I’m not home much, but I’m here whenever you’re ready to talk to me.”
“What if you don’t like what I have to say?”
“Impossible, sweetie.”
No, it’s not, she told herself. Gabi would flip if she knew what she was really up to…like learning the true identity of her father, even though every attempt to find him always came to a dead end.
