Page 112 of Before We're More Than Friends
“The princess rises from her tower,” Arielle sang as I walked down the spiral staircase.
I brushed my hand along the railing. “I came out for dinner.”
“Yeah, after I called you about ten times.”
“Whatever.”
When Arielle let Sienna and Gracelynn through the door, both of them looked at me with wide eyes. Sienna held a coffee in one hand and a deck of UNO cards in the other.
“I’ve risen from my tower,” I muttered.
“And your hair has risen from your scalp,” Gracelynn said.
Sienna jabbed her in the ribs. “You’ve looked worse,” she told me. “Your beautiful eyes make up for everything.”
I combed a hand through my tangled locks. “Yeah, like they’re not red from crying.”
“Arielle told us everything that happened with you and Dallas,” Sienna said as she sat on the living room floor. She set down her cup of coffee and opened the box of UNO cards. “I’m sorry. I had no idea that was going on.”
“I’m sorry for how I’ve acted,” I said. “It’s just been hard for me. Everything in my life decided to go wrong at once.”
“No, we understand.” Sienna shuffled the UNO deck. “Screw everything and everyone, honestly.”
As she said that, Mom walked into the living room. “Even me?” she asked playfully, but concern laced her delicate features.
Sienna’s cheeks flushed. “Oh, not you, Mrs. V.” She blew Mom a kiss. “We love you.”
“Thank you.” Mom smiled before facing Gracelynn. “How is your mom doing? I haven’t been around her much at work.”
Yeah, because you two have been avoiding each other like theplague as you secretly hope your fallout doesn’t cause drama at her husband’s firm.
“She’s doing all right as usual,” Gracelynn said as she picked up the UNO pile Sienna gave her. “She says hi.”
“Good.” Mom smiled again, though it seemed forced. “Tell her I said hi back.” She went into the kitchen.
“Because you’re a messenger,” Arielle muttered as she put a card down to start the game.
“I’m used to it.” Gracelynn sighed. “Anyway, I’m sorry about what happened with Alex. He shouldn’t have hidden the truth from you for that long.”
“I still feel like he did it because there’s something wrong with me,” I admitted as I placed a card down. “Everything was fine until I asked to share my real name with him. He freaked out and disappeared.”
“His reaction does confuse me,” Sienna mused. “Like, he didn’t want to ruin his friendship with you, but it’s not like avoiding you helped.”
I chewed my bottom lip. I hadn’t told Arielle that he’d confessed his feelings for me. As much as he’d hurt me, I didn’t want to spread his business around.
But he’d said he freakinglovedme. How could you love someone but want to hide from them?
Had he really been that scared?
Was there really nothing wrong with me?
“It’s complicated,” I said after a few beats of silence. “He’s complicated.”
“Don’t I know that well when it comes to guys,” Gracelynn muttered as she pulled a card. “Gosh, how am I so bad at this game?”
“It’s not like you have a chance against me, anyway,” Sienna, who was already down to three cards, said. “You know I always win.”
“Because you’re the one who shuffles the cards.”
