Page 102 of Before We're More Than Friends
“I’m glad.” Gracelynn smiled. “Have a great night.”
“You too,” Arielle and I said as we waved goodbye to her.
As Gracelynn walked away, Arielle got out of the booth and sat where the girls had been sitting.
“Dang, am I that bad to sit next to?” I said, feigning offense.
She giggled, pulling her Chocolate Mocha toward her. “It’s just easier to talk to you this way.” She tapped her fingers against the table. “So . . . have you read Dad’s letter yet?”
My spirits plummeted. “Oh, gosh.”
Her face fell. “Sorry, we don’t have to talk about it?—”
“No, it’s not that.” I sighed. “It’s kind of a long story. I don’t know if you heard me crying in my room last night or not.”
She shook her head. “I was listening to music.”
“One of my playlists?”
“Like I’d listen to one of your depressing playlists.”
I gasped. “They are notdepressing. They are emotional masterpieces.”
“Okay, Headphone Headmistress.” Arielle took a sip of her mocha. “I didn’t know you were crying last night, though. The letter . . .” She bit her lip. “It made me cry too. He sounded like he was emailing his clients, not writing to his daughter from prison. A robot sounds more humane than he had.”
“I’m sorry. That’s how I felt too.” I reached for her hand and squeezed it. “But I didn’t cry because of the letter.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “What happened?”
I sighed. “Remember how Alex hasn’t talked to me since he moved to Boulder Valley?”
Her face hardened, and she tugged her necklace. “Yeah.”
“I impulsively messaged him about the letter, and he finally logged on to talk to me.”
Arielle blinked in confusion. “But that’s good, right?”
I shook my head. “I called him out for ghosting me, and he admitted he did it on purpose. But he couldn’t explain why.” I played with one of my hoop earrings. “Last month, I wanted to share my real name and meet him, but he freaked out. He wants to keep me at a distance when I want to let him in.”
“Oh.” Arielle swallowed, not meeting my eyes. “I’m sorry. You don’t deserve that.” She glanced at my wrists. “So that’s why you’re not wearing his bracelet.”
“I don’t think I’ll be wearing it anytime soon,” I said.
“Yeah.” She swallowed again. Was something stuck in her throat? “I think something’s going on with him that he doesn’t want to confess yet. I don’t agree with how he’s handling it because you deserved him to be honest with you from the start, but it’s just a thought. There’s more to the bigger picture.”
I raised an eyebrow at her. Something about the way she couldn’t look me in the eye and twisted her necklace, her nervous habit, made me suspicious. “That’s a bit specific.”
“Maybe a little,” she admitted, averting her gaze to the people who walked by. “It’s just that neither of you has been the same since the move. You were already down about the situation with our parents, but him moving and acting differently didn’t help with that.” She bit her lip and finally looked me in the eyes. “It’s crazy that he’s living here, you know?”
“All of this is crazy—” I stopped in my tracks, the dotsconnecting in my brain. “Wait a minute. I feel like you’re not talking about Alex.”
“I am.” Arielle twisted her hair around her finger and looked away. She was lying.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “You’re talking about Dallas.”
Her eyes grew wide. “You know who he is?”
“Youknow who he is?”
