Page 142 of My Skin Begs You Please

“You can like the pretty ones. I want the manly ones.”

Daniel huffed, and then melted with a gooey smile. “Peter’s pretty.”

“He is, but he’s also fickle.”

Daniel laughed, sitting up straight. “You’re never going to forgive him for hurting me, are you?”

I folded my hands in my lap. “As your best friend, it’s my duty to hold your grudges even when you can’t. Until my dying day.”

Another frozen moment.

My stomach ached, and Daniel looked like he might vomit. “Can we stop mentioning death?” he asked.

I patted his cheek. “Yeah, sure. What do you want to talk about instead?”

“This guy you’re in love with?”

“Luke.”

“Yeah. Tell me all about him. I really want to know.”

I took another swallow of milkshake. “All right.”

By the time I was done singing the praises of Luke, Daniel seemed a lot more relaxed about him. I got it. Just like I held Peter up for endless scrutiny, always on the lookout for any furtherbetrayal of the best human being alive, it was Daniel’s job to be skeptical about the man I was totallyincapableof being skeptical about right now. It was a reciprocal service.

“So, you love him,” Daniel said. “For real this time.”

I took the last sip of my milkshake, rattling the straw in the bottom looking for even a little bit more. “I do.”

“So how is it? Real love.”

“It’s scary as fuck.”

Daniel laughed and tapped his milkshake cup against my empty one. “I know what you mean.”

“You’re scared too?”

“Hell, yeah. All the time. Scared of losing him. Scared of keeping him. It’s all scary.”

I smiled. I hadn’t imagined Daniel being afraid to move forward with Peter. I’d thought him short-sighted, love-blind, and many other things, but never imagined that he might be afraid.

“So, youdoremember what he did this summer,” I concluded.

Daniel sighed. “He’s human, and humans make mistakes.”

“You love him.”

“Yeah.”

“I know. And you should. He’s a good guy.”Most of the time, my mind supplied. “He’d be smart to stick with you.”

“And Luke would be smart to stick with you.”

“You think so?”

“Of course.”

We dropped the subject of our men and moved on to talking about the messed-up situation with his mom and siblings. When the time came for Daniel to go home, he drove me back to the dorm and dropped me off.

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