Page 22 of Awestruck at Dusk
“Well, I did,” I said, bringing my lips closer to his. “It was so exciting.”
But Nathan backed up again slightly, not at all harshly but somewhat, making it seem like he had something picking on his mind.
“I couldn’t talk to William about the things I wanted to,” he stated, placing his wineglass on the coffee table beside mine. NowIneeded my wine back because what did they talk about then? “He wanted to talk about Zara. And that pretty much monopolized our entire conversation.”
A couple of involuntary coughs escaped my throat.
“You okay, love?”
“Yes,” I said quickly, grabbing my wineglass and taking a sip. “Something got stuck in my throat.” There I was, choking on my own saliva. I could feel my hands shaking because Icravedto know what William had to say about Zara.Please keep going.
“Zara’s flying in tomorrow morning, and she’ll be staying with William since ‘he’s got a spare room.’”
Nofuckingway.
“He explained how he helped Zara get into Juilliard. I mean, he talked to a few people, and they really liked her audition materials. Apparently, they’ve both been plotting this for a while,” Nathan said, rubbing his face. “So he’s taking her to Juilliard to make sure everything’s ready for her to start the fall term.”
What the hell is happening?Zara’s staying with him?
I already disliked Nathan’s “baby sister”too much; who’s my age, by the way. And I’ve only seen her in pictures. I was sure Zara was great because Nathan wouldn’t stop telling me that. And I guess that’s what annoyed me, that William probably agreed with Nathan.
No … he most definitelyagreed.
And we couldn’t have been any more different. Long, brown waves with caramel highlights framed her oval-shaped face. Her eyes were of the palest blue shade. Her big, white smile was the center of attention in every picture Nathan showed me of her. Andtall, Nathan said when I asked about her height.
Five-freaking-ten.
She wanted to be an actress, and she certainly looked like one. Like someone that would look great standing beside William.
Maybe shewasan excellent match for him since they would be doing the same thing for a living. Zara could understand the world he lived in better than I ever could. It was hard to realize that.
Nathan’s my boyfriend. Yes. But I’d already begun to acknowledge my feelings for William, even if it was something I didn’t want to do, even if it was the scariest thing ever. And the feelings were very real—alive, almost, and stared back at me a lot.
Nathan took an angry sip of his wine and set it down again.
“So that’s why I had you waiting too long. I spent most of the conversation reminding him how he better not lay a bloody finger on her. You know, in thefriendliestway possible.”
That’s my man.
“And to be honest, after listening to all of this—to how close they really are, I don’t think it’s even relevant to question him about his feelings for you. My question now is, what does he want with Zara?”
That makes two of us.
“I was so fucking annoyed at seeing William hovering around you all the time. But I know now that he’s been messing with me, probably distracting me of the fact that he’s trying to make something work with my sister.”
No.
I didn’t want to believe that. And it hurt me to see Nathan having these thoughts when I had all this extra information that I withheld from him about things that William had said to me. About his feelings. But then I doubted myself again because what if Nathan was right?
William had been friendlier to me, more aware, and caring. Involved. Maybe he’d decided to be my friend after all now that he had something going on with Zara. It could be that I got it all twisted. But he kept flirting, hinting. And in the hospital, when I first saw him after surgery, the things he said … they felt real.
And just now, before Nathan arrived, he was opening up himself to me even more.
Zarahadto be just a good friend. I refused to believe otherwise.
I know I’d previously asked William ifwecould be friends. Damn it! But that was before when I’d just started dating Nathan. Before I thought I’d lost him. Before my feelings for him grew and expanded inside my chest.
We said we’d be friends in another life,not this one—never.
