Page 12 of The Good Girl's Guide to Being Bad

“I may have had one too many,” Liz giggle-hiccupped, laying her head on Colton’s arm.

And there was my answer.

“‘ppreciate the ride,” Anna said sleepily while Liz continuously stroked Colton’s chest.

My nemesis grinned, eyebrow cocked. “It’s the Christian thing to do.”

If the girls had been jerks, I might have said no. If Colton and Liz were…getting busy in the backseat, I would have thrown them both out. But seeing as both girls were nearly asleep already and one couldn’t keep her head up, and seeing as I was a push over, I gave in.

“Fine, whatever,” I mumbled. “It’s on the way anyway…but if you two start making out, I will kick all three of your butts to the curb.”

“Hmm,” Liz murmured, “thank you, Sister.”

Colton cough-laughed, but I pretended not to hear. Even as he and Liz did what I knew they’d been going to do, and she started kissing up and down his throat, making me want to gag, I didn’t react. Even as she giggled, I kept my eyes forward. In fact, I did a pretty great job of pretending I was alone in the car for the next few minutes—until Kyle started rambling.

“Nobody knows me,” he said to himself. “Not my parents, not my friends. Not even my brother. No one in the whole wide world really knows who I am…except you, Sadie.”

“What?” I said.

“It’s like I don’t even exist.”

“Kyle, you’re wasted,” Colton said from the backseat. “You’re my twin. Of course, I know you.”

“No, you don’t,” Kyle said sadly. “You think you do, but you don’t. You wouldn’t love me anymore if you did.”

Colton snorted. “Man, you are completely wasted. Ten bucks says you puke before we make it back home—or maybe in the car.”

I shot Kyle a look. “Don’t you dare.”

“Deal, and don’t be thinking I’m too drunk to remember, Colt,” Kyle said, spirits seeming to lift as they shook on it—though, they sank again in the next breath. “Why can’t anyone know me?”

My best friend looked to me, and the miserable look in his eyes made my heart clench. I knew he hadn’t told anyone else. It had always made me feel kind of special, that I was the only one he’d felt comfortable enough to tell his deepest secret. But right then, I really wished he would’ve come out, owned all of who he is—though I couldn’t even begin to understand how hard that must be. I had to believe that his family would still love and accept him like I had.

“Why can’t anyone know who I am and just…love me?”

Taking a deep breath, I turned back to the road. “I love you, Kyle. You know that.”

“I do,” he said, and I saw him nodding out of the corner of my eye. “But not inthatway.”

In exactly that way, I thought with a pang in my chest. In the most tragic way imaginable.

“I really shouldn’t have kissed Anna tonight,” he breathed, head drooping to the side.

“Excuse me,what?”

He didn’t answer.

“Kyle?” I said.

A minute later I drove into Anna’s driveway and looked over to find him asleep. He’d dropped that bomb and then escaped to dreamland. Unfortunately, I wasn’t that lucky.

Throwing the car into park, my mind was reeling. I didn’t notice Colton leading the girls out of the backseat, walking them to the front door. All I could hear were Kyle’s last words. He’d kissed someone else? He’d kissed a complete stranger? Wait a minute. He’d kissed…a girl? I really didn’t know how to feel about that, so I settled somewhere between shocked and hollow.

My God, I thought.

Kyle, my best friend who couldn’t possibly ever love me back because he was gay, had kissed a girl…

…and it wasn’t me.

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