Page 85 of Chasing After You
“I feel like you can’t judge me because you’re literally dating the Walker girl,” Kaitlyn turns it back around on me, and she has a fair point. Except Mirabelle and I aren’t dating for real. Oh shit, I guess I can lie to my sister. The real question here should be: am I lying to my sister, or am I lying to myself?
“This isn’t about me right now.”
“Well, maybe it should be. I mean, maybe you can help me figure out what’s going on. How did you feel the first time you kissed Mirabelle?”
How did I feel?
Like I had a thousand cameras shoved in my face and she made every single one of them disappear.
“Mira . . . she has a way of making me feel like I can’t breathe,” I say, scratching the back of my neck.
“That sounds scary,” Kaitlyn says, and I think that’s definitely the right way to describe it.
“Yeah. It is, but she also has a way of being the only person who can make me feel like I’m breathing as well. I’m not sure how that’s supposed to help you figure out what’s going on, because I don’t even know what’s going on,” I say, moving the ice pack. I think it’s helping, or at the very least, the idea of it’s helping.
Kaitlyn looks at me like I’m stupid, probably because I am. At least I’m aware of it.
“You don’t know what’s going on?”
“Are you surprised?” I ask, laughing at my own expense.
“You’re in love with her,” she says, and my jaw unhinges. Kaitlyn laughs, shaking her head at me. “God, you are stupid.”
“I’m not in love with her,” I say, shaking my head. First, Andrew and now Kaitlyn? “We’re supposed to be talking about Bailey, not me.”
“I don’t know anything else, so we might as well talk about you and Mirabelle.”
“I love you, but we’re not talking about my relationship with Mirabelle,” I insist.
“You also love her.”
I think Mirabelle had the right idea; maybe I need to go for a run too.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Mirabelle
I THOUGHT I would hate having the house to myself, but it’s kind of nice. If I wanted to snoop—which I don’t—this would be a golden opportunity.
I had the chance to call Emily to fill her in on everything, but it’s beginning to occur to me I can’t spend all my time with Henry and his teammates because when they leave, who will I have here?
The Panthers are playing in the Thursday Night Football game this week, so they left yesterday for Colorado. I took full advantage of not having the guys here to check something off my list. I didn’t need Henry to be present to skinny dip with me, and like he said, it’s about me feeling more comfortable. It probably sounds dumb, but there was something so freeing about it. There’s plenty of space between the houses next to Henry’s, along with a tall privacy fence blocking the view. I almost chickened out, but it was an awful day at work, and I wanted to feel like I had accomplished something. So, I waited until the sun was setting and turned off the string lights over the pool before going for a swim.
It was definitely needed after dealing with Miley’s snide comments all day since Stacey traveled with the team, and I think I might need to start keeping a stress ball in my work bag for me to squeeze while I pretend it’s her head. I don’t think that will get me sent to HR, whereas anything I’m tempted to say definitely would.
The game is playing in the background as I scroll through Henry’s social media pages, trying to find which posts have the highest engagement so we can continue boosting his presence with the younger demographic of fans.
His endorsements seem to do pretty well, but there’s definitely a higher level of engagement on posts where he’s shirtless. I can’t blame anyone for liking those pictures, as the thought of printing and framing them has definitely run through my brain before. Of course, the real thing is so much better.
My favorite post appears to be everyone else’s favorite as well, with over a million likes.
It’s the one Henry posted to fulfill his deal with Stacey, and damn, he’s good. He probably could have even captioned itSugartits, and no one would have batted an eye. Henry must have taken the picture during the plane ride back from the last away game when I fell asleep on his shoulder. For being asleep, I honestly look pretty damn amazing.
The only part of Henry you can see is the shoulder I’m asleep on. I look peaceful with my hair falling slightly into my face, and you can see Henry’s headphone poking through my hair. It’s the exact kind of photo a girlfriend would hope her boyfriend would take of her, but it’s the caption that sells it.
The only person I’d want to listen to audiobooks with.
I’m fine. Actually—I’m swooning, but it’s fine. Everything isjustfine.
