Page 20 of Sugar Rush
“I know,” I acknowledged. “He doesn’t even remember.”
“Are you going to tell him?”
“Eventually. I feel like if I tell him now, he’s going to be all weird. I have to ease him into it.”
“So are you going to tell him you like him? Since he pretty much made it totally obvious that he’s into you like that, too? Wait, are you guys going to be boyfriends?” She practically squealed out the word, and I had to suppress a wince. “We can totally double date!”
“Yeah, it’s not exactly that simple with him. He’s really…” I stopped, hesitant. “I think… he likes me, but he doesn’t actually want to be with me.” Until I’d spoken the words out loud, I hadn’t realized how hurtful it was that he was rejecting me.
“Aw, Jordy…” Instantly recognizing my mood plummeting, she scooted over beside me, putting an arm around my shoulder. “He’ll get over it. He’s probably just being weird because of, you know, the whole stepbrother thing. It’s totally not because of you.”
“Really?” I wasn’t usually so insecure, but it was kind of hard not to be when I’d pretty much thrown myself at the guy and now he wouldn’t even talk to me through a text message.
“Oh my god, absolutely. You know you’re cute and smart and tons of guys at our school were totally into you. And Kieran issoobsessed. It’s obvious.”
“I don’t know,” I answered glumly.
“Maybe you should just talk to him. Be straight with him and tell him how you feel.”
I opened up my phone to our texts and held it up to her face so she could say how he’d blatantly rejected my request.
“Ooh, he really knows how to piss you off, huh?”
“Well, he can’t avoid me forever,” I reasoned. “We live in the same house.”
“Maybe you should just wait in his bed for when he gets home,” she suggested. “I bet he’d talk to you then.”
Considering he’d already managed to derail an even more extreme seduction attempt than that, I was pretty sure it wouldn’t be enough, but I didn’t go into details about that part. We were close, but TMI was TMI.
“Yeah, I’m sure that would go over well.” I inhaled deeply, letting out a long sigh. “It’s fine, let me try to talk to him and then if that doesn’t work, I can strategize from there.”
Dani sighed, popping a piece of chocolate candy into her mouth. We had two bowls on the floor between us, snacks for her and snacks for me. She could eat anything, but it was better for me to stick with lower sugar and lower carb options. I didn’t mind it so much anymore, but the worst thing was when I’d been a kid at other kids’ birthday parties. After the diagnosis, my days of pigging out on cake and ice cream were over.
“Sounds good,” she said, picking up her phone. After scrolling on it for a minute, she let out an exclamation. “Oh my gosh! I just got the approval email about our applications for the coed dorm! We’re approved!”
“So we’re officially roomies?”
“Yes!” She sprang up from the floor, pumping her arm in the air, her jet black strands of hair bouncing everywhere and her cherry earrings clacking madly with the movement. “Our room is going to besoaesthetic.”
“Totally,” I agreed, somewhat relieved for the subject change. Not just because I didn’t want to talk about it anymore, but I needed a break from thinking about it. “We should make a list of the stuff we want to buy.”
“Way ahead of you,” she said, sinking back down next to me and opening up a list she’d apparently already started.
Settling in next to her, we sat shoulder to shoulder, clicking through links and voting on which decor pieces would suit our room better. For the time being, I forgot about Kieran and his rude text.
THAT NIGHT, AFTERDani left, I ate dinner with my parents and then helped clean up after. Dani and I had told them the good news, and I knew my dad especially was thrilled that I’d be rooming with someone he trusted. I thought about the couple of times I’d been sort of pseudo-dating a guy, mostly just texting and going out here and there throughout high school, and he hadn’t been too keen on that.
I’d gotten plenty of lectures from him about how alphas could be dangerous and could lack self control, especially when they were young. He’d read a bunch of alpha horror stories online after I hit my second puberty, and they’d ended up making him pretty paranoid. It seemed like the only alpha he really trusted around me for any extended period of time was Kieran.
Maybe if Kieran and I ever got serious, that would be the angle I would use to get my dad to warm up to the idea. Kieran was always taking care of me, even in dumb little ways like letting me pick the movie for movie night and always giving me the last slice of pizza if I wanted it. Plus, he knew all about my diabetes and the emergency protocols about my health and everything. If anyone was going to be able to keep me alive in the worst case scenario, it would be him.
Then once I realized I was fantasizing about being in such a serious relationship with my stepbrother that we were actually telling our parents, I scoffed. I couldn’t even get the idiot to talk to me.
Well, we were going to talk about it whether he liked it or not.
When his truck pulled up in the drive, I subtly glanced back into the kitchen where my parents were doing a jigsaw puzzle together. It was a toucan in the rainforest. Tons of dark green pieces. They wouldn’t notice what I was doing or where I was.
Tugging my sneakers on, I slipped out the door, closing it softly behind me. Walking directly into the flood of light beaming from the headlights of the truck, I made sure Kieran saw me coming toward him. I made my way over to the driver’s side door and waited there patiently, blinking my eyelashes at him as he cautiously stared at me through the window. When the rumble of the truck tapered down into silence, I tilted my head.
