Page 89 of The Midseason Fakeout

I run forward, throwing my arms around my brother, squeezing him. He wraps his long, lanky arms around me, and I just hang on tight.

How could I not have known? All this time, I resented him because it seemed like he had it so much better than me.

I bite my lip, but it’s no use. I cling to my brother, tears coming and coming. Tears for him. For me. “I’m so sorry I didn’t know.”

“It’s not your fault. I was going to tell you so many times, but I didn’t want you to worry.”

“This is some kind of fucked up,” I say, pulling away. I’ve left wet marks on his shirt. “Was it the pressure? Did you tell Mom and Dad?”

He shakes his head. “They just thought… I swear to you, they just thought I was weak. They gave me a lot of leeway after that. I think that’s when Mom went crazy on you. She didn’t want you to do the same thing.”

I move around him and then pull him down so we can sit next to each other on the sofa. Placing my elbows on my thighs, I hang my head in my hands. “They’re going to make us leave here.”

“There was never a chance we were going to stay. You knew that going in. But it’ll be okay. You and Aidan were doing the long-distance thing before, you can do it again.”

I cringe. I can’t lie to him anymore. Not after what he’s just revealed to me. “Don’t be mad.”

He drops his head. “What?”

“I lied about Aidan. We weren’t secretly dating.”

He tilts his head. “So, you’re not dating?”

“Well, we are now. I mean before.” I stand again, walk toward the TV, then turn around to face him. “When I told Mom and Dad I wanted to go to a different college, I used Aidan as an excuse. He was the only person I could think of that Mom and Dad liked, the only person I could use as a reason why I would want to go to Warner. I put two and two together, and then it popped out that he and I were dating.”

“Let me get this straight. When you and I showed up at Warner, you were not dating my best friend?”

I shake my head.

“Then you somehow talked him into it? Within minutes?”

I shrug. “It was kind of easy. He needed a jersey-chaser blocker so he could focus on football.”

“You’re making my head hurt.” He sighs, running his hands through his hair. “But now you are dating? For real?”

“For real, for real,” I tell him. “Though we just got into trouble, and he’s upset at himself and won’t talk to me about it.”

“In trouble?”

“Don’t get mad.”

“If you say that one more time, I’m going to get pissed.”

I grimace. “Um, so, we were in the river…naked. A…” I clear my throat. “A cop kinda sorta found us out there.”

Darrin jumps to his feet. “Jesus Christ, Bailey.”

“It’s not like we meant to.”

“Are you in trouble? Did he give you a ticket?”

“No, he let us go. He knew who Aidan was, but we were scared shitless.”

“Oh my God, if Mom found out…”

“I know! I’d be leaving right now.”

“Oh, he’s going to hear it from me.” I give him a look, but he waves it away. “No, Bails, not this time. I gave him a pass about dating you, then come to find out you weren’t dating, so he used his Get Out of Jail Free card on a fake relationship. Now it’s on.”

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