Page 79 of Faking Summer
"You impress me," I confessed, the words spilling out like a secret. Her eyes met mine, reflecting the depth of the night sky, and for a moment, it was like time itself had paused, waiting for her to respond.
She let out that small laugh again, but it was different this time—sadder. Her gaze fell, and she pulled slightly closer. "I don’t impress anyone. I made so much of this wedding about me andhoping that I didn’t look pathetic, and now, I just feel so bad for Charlotte," she whispered.
"Yeah," I agreed. "But, eventually she'll be okay. And I have a feeling this unnecessary pressure your family puts on you both to get married won't be an issue anymore."
A sharp scream shattered the quiet, yanking us out of our little bubble. Suddenly, Stella came sprinting out from the side of the barn, her face full of panic. "Charlotte!" she cried, her voice cracking with desperation.
I turned just in time to see Charlotte, her wedding dress swishing behind her as she ran after her ex-best friend. Their parents trailed in a flurry after them, outstretched hands desperate to mediate the situation.
"Damn it all," Yaya said, letting out a sigh as she swept by us. "Well, we might as well drink our sorrows away. Bartender, I need a double!"
Caroline and I snickered at Yaya as she made herself comfortable at the bar.
"Thank you for being here," Caroline said softly, almost... grateful. Her gaze flickered away, then back, like she didn't want to admit it. "I wanted you here more than I realized. And my algorithm was torturing me today. Some video edits of you dancing and lifting up your shirt in the locker room keeps popping up on my timeline."
"Fucking Bailey," I laughed, spinning her in a circle before I pulled her into me and whispered with a sly grin, "You know, you can't get rid of me that easily." Her hand found its way up my arm, holding on tight as the DJ started playing a slow song.
Her mom's eyes met mine as she walked by, and surprisingly, I found approval in her nod. Maybe after tonight I was no longer the enemy.
Two women joined us on the dance floor. One paused, calculating as she looked me up and down, taking in every detail. Her lips twisted into a smirk, the kind that knew more than it should. "Damn, Caroline," she purred. "Are you going to introduce us?"
"Of course," Caroline replied, although I could tell she didn’t really want to, "This is Reese. Reese, these are my cousins."
One of them leaned in slightly, assessing me. "Love that for you, Caroline."
Their laughter faded as they made their way to the DJ booth to request a song. I drew Caroline in closer, my hands resting just above the dip of her waist, feeling the soft fabric of her dress beneath my fingers.
"I need to talk to you about something," I whispered in her ear, inhaling that intoxicating shampoo of hers. “I never knew.”
"Never knew what?" she asked, absentmindedly.
I felt the subtle sway of Caroline's body against mine, living for the way she began to relax against me.
"I never knew about the dance," I confessed. "First off, if I was going to ask you to a dance, I would've done it myself."
There was a pause, and her blue eyes searched my face.
"You didn't know?" she asked, disbelief lining the edges of her words. "But you were there. Your girlfriend was there, she?—"
Her gaze held me, intense and questioning, as if she was trying to understand but was now reading the truth written in my eyes.
"She wasn't my girlfriend… I just asked her because we sat next to each other in math. I don't think I talked to her much after that dance. I knew something happened at the punch table, but I had no idea about any of what you told me."
She stayed quiet, letting my words sink in. In the soft glow of candlelight, I caught the flicker of something in Caroline’s eyes—hurt, maybe disbelief.
"All this time… you really thought I’d do that to you?" My chest tightened as I continued. "I’m sorry it happened, but I need you to know—I’d never do something like that."
She leaned into me gently, her head coming to rest against my shoulder. "I'm sorry for everything. We spent all these years hating each other because I thought?—"
I couldn’t hold back a grin—she was so ridiculous and sweet thatit made my chest ache. Before she could say another word, I leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head, cutting her off gently. “It’s okay, baby.”
Her gaze flickered away for a second before snapping back to mine, a storm of emotions swirling behind those eyes.
“What happens now?” she whispered. “When things go back to how they were? When we have to face reality and we’re actually done… when you have to release me?”
For the first time in what felt like forever, she was letting me in. And damn, if it didn’t make me want to hold on even tighter. This fucking reputation of mine, which I’d never intended to own, but somehow couldn't escape. We continued to move together, our audience fading, leaving only us. Her hand was so small and relaxed in mine, her other arm draped over my shoulder.
"Caroline, you've been here in this town my whole life, and now that I see you,reallysee you, I can't go back to how things were. Things stopped being fake for me almost as soon as we started."
