Page 67 of Next to Everything We Wanted
My pulse skipped. “What?”
“What?” Hayden echoed, dropping the rope he was using to play tug-of-war.
Arielle whipped her phone out and tapped on the screen. “Look at this.” She turned her screen on full brightness, revealing Ivan’s Instagram bio.
Celia wasn’t tagged there anymore.
My heart jolted against my ribs. Did this mean that he wanted to take things further with me? Go on more dates, share more kisses, maybe end up in his bio instead?
Hit the brakes!
“Oh,” I said, unsure of what else to say. I was a terrible actor, so if I pretended to be too surprised, everyone could see right through me.
“Oh my gosh,” Hayden said, his eyes going wide as he looked at his own phone. “He removed Celia from his bio, though Celia still has him in hers.”
The backflips in my stomach turned into twists of guilt. Did Celia know about our date? That we kissed? My heart broke for her, knowing that she was going to take this hard, whether or not Gavin wanted to continue things with me or not.
“Sienna?” Arielle asked.
I bobbed my head. “Yeah?”
“What’s wrong? Aren’t you happy?”
“Why would I be happy?” I snapped before realizing how my tone came across. “I didn’t want them to break up. She’s probably hurting.”
She leaned back from me, hurt growing in her blue eyes. “I didn’t think about that. I-I just thought about how much you like Ivan.”
Raina, Dallas, and Hayden all had their eyes on me, stopping what they were doing with the dogs. Hayden and Dallas shared a confused look. Raina narrowed her eyes, her gaze becoming icy as if she knew I was keeping another secret from her.
Why did I always end up in this position?
“You don’t need to ask what happened,” I said, admitting defeat.Here it goes. “Remember that Whiteout concert I couldn’t score tickets for?”
Raina smiled, the iciness in her gaze disappearing. “Oh my gosh, were you able to go?”
“Youstilllisten to Whiteout?” Hayden asked.
“Who names their band after tape?” Dallas added.
I rolled my eyes before drawing in a deep breath. “Ivan took me to the concert. And when I kissed him on impulse, he kissed me back.”
Their four jaws dropped so hard to the ground, they could’ve left holes in the grass.
Hayden gasped. “What the?—”
“Fudge,” Dallas finished, his eyes huger than a puppy’s. “You guys actually?—”
“Kissed?” Raina breathed. “Like actually?”
“Sienna!” Arielle tackled me into a hug, nearly knocking me over. “See, I knew he liked you! Gracelynn’s going to freak!”
“And Caleb is going to make so many jokes,” Hayden said with a smirk.
“Oh, I can already imagine,” I muttered, all the blood in my body rushing to my cheeks.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Raina asked, hurt etched in her voice. “We could’ve helped you get ready.”
“It slipped my mind,” I said. “We went on the date as friends, then I found out he wasn’t with Celia anymore and got ahead of myself.” I sighed, the pain in my chest growing. “And though it was one of the best nights of my life, I’m scared we’re moving too fast. He likes to keep things slow and steady.”
