Page 126 of Set the Moment
“Wait—I thought your hair was pink…” he mumbles, clearly not reading the room. I smile at my friend, recalling Sienna’s dramatics.
“She surprised me and dyed it.” I chuckle, the memory of her dancing on the table at the forefront of my mind, unaware of the girls until I hear Cleo’s voice again.
“You changed yourself because ofhim?! Have you lost your fucking mind?!” Cleo yells.
“Calm down a second…Let’s take this outside and talk?” Sienna says her eyes wide, darting around the room as Cleo eyes her suspiciously.
The two nod simultaneously and head for the backyard.
Fuck. I hope they don’t fight. I haven’t broken up one of their fights since we were kids.
Blake plops down on couch beside me. “You know she called me Jake?”
Chuckling I turn to face my best friend and laugh in his face. “Who?”
“Your girlfriend. She’s kinda cool, though, I like her for you.” Blake shrugs, turning on the TV, settling into the couch.
“Me too. You and CJ are kinda cute, too,” I admit, getting comfortable as Blake laughs.
“I know.”
We’re sitting in silence, watching the movie when Blake speaks up.
“So wait…Does this mean that we’ll be in-laws, Jace?”
fifty-one
Sienna
CleoandIsitin an awkward silence, eyeing one another carefully. It’s been five minutes since we’ve gotten outside.
“So…” we say in unison, laughing nervously at one another.
“I’ll go first if that’s okay, Ceej,” I say, placing a hand on her thigh and squeezing gently.
“Jace and I kissed two years ago,” I admit. Her eyes widen like a cartoon characters, and I’d laugh if this whole thing was funny.
“What?! Who kissed who? Was I there? Does G know? Why didn’t you guys date then? Wh—”
Laughing, I tilt my head at her.
Cleo mimes zipping her lips as sighs, her shoulders deflating.
“To answer your questions, I kissed him. I don’t regret it, either, you were there, just not near us. Georgia does know, and we didn’t date then because I was a coward,” I admit, running a hand through my black curls as Cleo tilts her head at me.
“Sienna, you are not—”
Sighing, I cut her off.
“No, I was a coward. I ran away from someone I knew I loved because I was afraid that he’d leave me just like my parents. I was afraid that if I told you, that you’d want nothing to do with me, and Cleo, I just couldn’t live like that…so I ran.”
The cool December air bites at our skin, the two of us only having blankets to keep us warm out here. I fiddle with the necklace Jace had given me, shifting uncomfortably as Cleo eyes me.
“You hid him? Why did you think I’d be upset? I’d never be upset with you, Si Si. Especially over something like this…” Cleo frowns, taking hold of my fiddling hand.
Taking a deep breath, I turn to fully face Cleo and a piece of my heart warms.
“I shouldn't have hid him or did a number of the things that I did. I thought you may be upset since he’s your best friend, but listening to myself now, I know that I had the wrong idea. I think that he and I have silently loved each other for years, and now that we’re in the same place at the right time…I got scared and wanted to prevent myself from getting hurt.”
