Page 105 of Before We're More Than Friends
She still stared at all my clothes as I put them in piles on my bed. “Are you going on a date right after?”
I wish. “I just want to look decent, okay?”
“What was with all the shouting?” She rubbed her eyes again. “You look upset.”
“I’m not.” I tried to get Houston off my clothes again, but he wouldn’t budge. “Gosh, why can’t you move?”
Houston gave me puppy eyes before crossing one paw over the other.
“Yeah, totally not upset.” Kami sat down on my bed, clearly not going anywhere. “Is it about Raina?”
“Sheesh, is she the only thing my life revolves around?” I snapped. “All people want to talk about is me and her!”
Kami didn’t flinch, staring at me as if she already knew the answer.
I collapsed onto the floor, putting my head in my hands. “I’m sorry.” I drew in a deep breath before rambling to her aboutthe full situation. My words were so jumbled that I had no idea if I was making sense.
When I was done, she looked just as surprised as Hayden had been, her mouth hanging open as her black lashes fluttered.
“And you’re just telling me this now?” she asked.
“I’m just as guilty of keeping relationship secrets as you were,” I muttered, trying one last time to get Houston off my clothes. He stuck out his tongue as if he were taunting me.
“This is eating you alive, Dallas.” She slid off the bed and sat on the floor next to me. “You definitely need to tell her at the bonfire tonight.”
“I know. It just makes me so sick to my stomach knowing it’ll destroy everything.” Images of what Raina’s face would look like flooded my mind. The hurt, the frustration, the fury. “There’s no way she isn’t going to be upset from how she responded on Connections.”
Kami put her hand on my shoulder. “It probably won’t be pretty, but you can do it. I know you still have a good heart.” Her eyes locked with mine, heavy emotion lacing the deep brown. “It wouldn’t hurt so much if you didn’t.”
I couldn’t have agreed any less. My heart was selfish, confused, and everything in between. “I wish I didn’t have one.” I stared at my lap. “If I didn’t, I wouldn’t love so hard.”
“I know. I wish I didn’t, either.” She brushed through my curls. “If you want, I can come to the bonfire with you.”
“Wouldn’t that be awkward?” I asked. “You know, since you rejected Oliver?”
Kami waved a hand. “He probably has his eyes on the next girl anyway.”
“Well, you’re welcome to come. Sienna is bringing her cousins, and I think Hayden’s sister is coming too.” Lana and Kami shared some classes, and they’d gotten along at my birthday party.
“It’d be better than staying in the house like I always do.” She fiddled with the zippers of one of my jackets. “I hadn’t really gone anywhere outside of school and the shelter. Evenyouhave more of a social life than I do.”
I snorted. “That’s something different. But I do want you to come. It’ll be fun. And it’ll make me feel better.”
She gave me the warmest smile I’d seen from her in a while. “Then I will.”
The green-and-blue bracelet with a black star was foreign to my skin as I twisted it around my wrist in the car, counting the minutes until my incoming doom.
“You’re going to break that thing,” Kami said as I followed her out of the car.
“It may as well already be broken,” I said, hiding the bracelet with my jacket sleeve. A gust of wind blew by, sending a chill down my spine. “I don’t know if I can do this.”
“Don’t back out of this.” Kami rubbed my back. “It’s a beautiful night out.”
“That’s the problem.” There wasn’t a cloud in sight, and the stars danced more than I’d seen them since I’d moved here. It was perfect for a bonfire. Perfect for spending time with people you loved.
Not perfect for throwing up s’mores.
“Hey, guys!”
