Page 107 of The Pinkie Pact

"What are you doing?" I asked.

He looked up, surprised. "Getting ready for bed."

"You don't have to sleep here, you know."

"I know." Shrugging, he kept at it.

He couldn't be serious. "I mean, come on, Kier, you have that nice, comfy bed. Why don't you go home and get some rest? You've been through a lot too and must be exhausted."

Sitting down across from me, he answered, "I don't feel right leaving you in here all alone."

"I'm fine," I argued. "I can take care of myself."

"I know you can. But I really hate it, to be honest."

I had nothing to say to that.

"Where's Amir anyway?" he asked.

"He said his roommate is single again now." Feeling resigned, I sat down and started to arrange the blankets and pillow.

"It's not right that Kara expects you to sleep in here every night. I'm going to talk to her about it tomorrow."

I stopped to look at him. "No, no, no. Please don't," I begged. "She's in love. And for whatever reason, they can't go back to Gen's place."

His eyes narrowed. "And why on earth not? Do we know the answer to that yet?"

"No, we don't." I sighed because itwasreally strange. "I mean, she still says the same thing, something about not liking her roommate."

Kieran shook his head, clearly as confused as I was. "But why does that even matter? She has her own bedroom, right?"

"Supposedly. I don't know. I don't even ask anymore."

I could feel the fumes coming off him, and it was kind of sweet that he was so pissed about it on my behalf.

"I really don't mind," I said because now I totally understood what it felt like to be crazy in love and want to be alone with that person all the time. But God, I didn't want to think about that right now. I just wanted to curl up and go to sleep.

Seeing him lying down on the couch with nothing, I tossed him one of the plush blankets.

"Thanks for that," he said, catching it. "You sure you don't need it?"

"I'm sure," I reassured him as I stood up to turn out the light.

As we were plunged into darkness, I found my way back to the couch and settled in, my eyes slowly adjusting. The room had huge windows, and the city's lights found their way in. I could see Kieran across from me, staring right at me, and I felt kind of bad that he didn't have a pillow. He was using his arm instead.

For a second, I thought about asking if he wanted to sleep on the couch with me so he could at least have a cushion for his head. But I didn't. That was too much.

All the events of the last twenty-four hours swirled around in my mind, making me exhausted, and soon my eyes began to close, the last thing in my sight Kieran's face.

***

The following days were more of the same, with Kieran always finding me, not pushing for anything, just being there, asking if I was okay with that. And it was weird because Iwasokay with that.

He even went with me to the doctor to get my IUD just like we had planned, although he waited in the lobby for me. I wasn't sure why I got it anyway. But as the days passed, I was feeling sort of hopeful that maybe someday I'd be able to feel what I'd felt for Kieran again. And if I didn't, well, there were other guys, right?

It didn't hurt much for me, thank God, but I definitely didn't love the whole experience. Afterward, Kieran brought me soup again, and I was grateful. Actually, Kieran brought me food pretty much every night as we fell into a strange new routine of meeting up in the study lounge, eating, and hitting the books together.

I asked him frequently about his dad, wondering how Kieran was doing with the shock of learning how awful his dad truly was. Apparently, they weren't speaking anymore. No more basketball games. No more talking or texting. He also mentioned he hadn't discussed it with anyone else, but I wondered if there was more he wasn't telling me.

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