Page 56 of The Best Kind of Forever
Sienna wipes away an unbidden tear on her cheek. “I wish you both the best. Just promise me something, Hayes.”
“What?” I ask.
“Promise me you’ll be honest with her. Girls are simple. All we want is honesty.”
“I promise,” I respond, hating how easy the lies are starting to become.
24
FOOL ME ONCE, FOOL ME TWICE
AERIS
“Why do you look constipated?” Lila asks me, grabbing a champagne flute off one of the waiter’s trays and downing it in a single gulp.
“I don’t look…constipated,” I grumble. I’m so tense that my muscles feel like they’ve been brutally bent out of shape.
“Yes, you do. Spill.”
“Hayes just got swept away by the most stunning girl in existence. Like, she won the genetic lottery. Like, her face is so symmetrical that she had to have been created in a lab for those proportions to work.”
Lila hums, smoothing out the front of her dress. She’s wearing a violet dress that emphasizes her hourglass figure, with a high slit showing off her enviable legs.
“Do you think something happened between them?” she asks.
“I don’t know,” I reply. The way that girl looked at Hayes will be forever branded into my memory. There was definitely some lust in there. And anger.
Hayes and I weren’t exclusively together until weeks after we started seeing each other. He could’ve very well gotten his fix with some other girls when he was talking to me. I can’t be mad at him for that. He never promised me anything. He was a free agent at that time. I’m jealous as fuck, but I can’t be angry with him.
“Look, love. I know you get self-conscious thinking about the girls Hayes has been with, but you’re the one he’s with now. Officially. That’s a big deal. And if I’m any romance expert—which I am—I can tell Hayes is head over heels just by the way he looks at you.”
My heart flexes. “You really think so?”
Lila bops me on the nose. “Even a blind person could see how infatuated he is with you.”
As much as I hate to admit it, I’m terrified how serious things are going to get between me and Hayes as our relationship progresses. More complications are bound to come up. That’s what happens when you start to peel away your emotional baggage.
I snatch a glass of champagne, forcing the liquid down my throat as it settles heavily in my belly. “You don’t think I’m gonna crash and burn when this is all over, do you?”
Stop overthinking, Aeris. Enjoy the present. Don’t worry about the future.
“You worry too much, Aer-Bear. Stop trying to sabotage yourself. I know you think this is too good to be true, but this is the standard for a lot of people. You’ve just known disappointment your whole life, so you’ve grown to accept that’s what you deserve. But it’s not. What you really deserve is happiness.”
The nerves taking me for a tailspin start to wane. I always feel so much better when I talk my problems out with Lila. If modeling doesn’t work out for her, she should seriously consider becoming a licensed therapist.
After a long half hour, Lila’s already made three friends while I haven’t moved from my spot by the buffet table. I keep sneaking chocolate-covered strawberries to avoid having to introduce myself to anyone.
Hayes reappears around the corner, brandishing an apologetic grimace. “Sorry about that. Uh, we just had to talk about some things.”
I don’t have a right to be angry. But I am. Beneath my wayward indignation is a pool of sadness, and betrayal flits across my face. “Who was that, Hayes?”
“She was just a girl.”
“A girl you slept with?”
The tendons in Hayes’ arms writhe, and his jaw ticks. “I did sleep with her. Before I met you,” he admits. “But I haven’t seen her since. I haven’t even thought about her.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “You don’t have feelings for her?”
