Page 18 of A Good Book

“Gabby and I were just heading out to get ice cream.” I grabbed her hand and pulled her to standing.

Jason adjusted his baseball cap over his short blond hair and grinned at Gabby. “Later.”

“Bye.” She barely got the word out before I had us in the hallway with the door closed.

“I’m full from the pizza. I don’t want ice cream,” she said.

“I’m tired of you losing your mind over Matt Cory. So we’re going to have a little chat, andIdo want ice cream.” I held open the door to the stairwell.

She scowled at me before proceeding down the stairway. “I’m not losing my mind. And even if I were, isn’t that what love is supposed to be?”

“You don’t even know him.” I followed her down the stairs, our steps echoing off the concrete walls.

“I do too. I’ve known him for as long as I can remember.” She pushed through the front door as the cool evening air enveloped us.

“Your family has known his family. Sarah knew him because she dated him. You were just there like an old lamp. You blended in, but he never thought about turning you on.”

“Ben!” She slapped my arm.

“You know I’m right.” I led her north toward Baskin-Robbins.

“Why are you so grumpy? Why can’t you just be happy for me?” She swatted a swarm of bugs.

“I’m grumpy because my best friend is willing to kiss my roommate because she’s so desperate to be something she’s not. Sorry that doesn’t make me happy.”

“If you were a girl, you’d be happy for me. You’d squeal and jump up and down with me because the guy I have a crush on almost kissed me.”

“He did not!” I stopped walking.

Gabby halted, too, but not until she was a few steps ahead of me. On a long sigh, she turned.

“I love you,” I said because my heart couldn’t take it any longer. Whatever she thought she felt for Matt, I felt that for her times a million. I should have said it four years earlier.

All I wanted was for her to love me back because no other guy would see her like I did. They wouldn’t have years of Gabriella Jacobson woven into every memory worth remembering. They wouldn’t see themselves as a product of being her friend.

But I did. I saw her, and I couldn’t let her infatuation with Matt go any further.

Gabby returned a pouty face. “Aw. I love you too.” She took two steps and wrapped her arms around me, resting her cheek on my chest. “I know you’re just looking out for me. I’ll stop talking about Matt. Maybe Olivia is a better choice if I need to discuss boy problems.”

I couldn’t bring myself to hug her back because my bold declaration of love backfired. With the utmost bravery, I had set my heart at her feet, and she treated it like a speed bump. To my knowledge, we had never said those words to each other. It wasn’t like my mom telling me ten times a day how much she loved me. Did girls do that? Did they say “I love you” to their friends? Guys didn’t.

“Come on.” She looped her arm with mine. “I’ll buy the ice cream. So, did you get your short story grade back?”

I glanced over my shoulder and took a mental picture of the crime scene, where she unknowingly shot me down with an arrow dipped in the poison of unrequited love.

Gabby was my Matt.

CHAPTERSIX

MADONNA, “LIKE A PRAYER”

Gabby

My life was over.

It had been three weeks since the near-kiss incident with Matt. I had no reason to call him. God hadn’t blessed me with allowing our paths to cross on campus. And no mutual friends or family members died, so I could have a reason to call him and suggest we go to the funeral together.

To make matters worse, Olivia and Ben had been on three dates, and she wouldn’t stop talking about what a good kisser he was, his broad chest and bulging biceps, or the way he smelled like pine trees, and was just so “bad to the bone.”

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