Page 43 of The Hearts We've Broken
“Yeah, I’m sure. Go. Have fun,” he reassured me, certainty shining in his gaze.
Isa hopped up from her seat. “Well, that’s perfect! Let’s go, then, girls. I’m driving!”
“Oh, no you’re not.” Ellison snatched Isa’s keys from her hands. “I don’t feel like dying today.”
“Fine, then I get the aux cord!” Her bubbly demeanor didn’t change as she half-skipped to the passenger side.
“You have Bluetooth,” Ellison muttered. “You don’t even have an aux cord.”
Amused by their banter, I followed, looking over my shoulder at the guys, who waved. Jake mouthed,Good luck,with a laugh.
I slid into the backseat as Ellison started the car. Isa’sphone connected immediately, and a girly pop song started playing through the speakers.
“What kind of music do you like, Juniper?” Ellison’s eyes met mine in the rearview mirror as she backed up the car.
“Uh—” I forced out a laugh. “Not…whatever this is.”
Ellison turned her head to Isa as if to say,See?
“Rude! My music is great,” Isa protested, turning the music up even louder as she sang to the words at the top of her lungs.
“Has Reid ever said anything about your…singing abilities?” Ellison teased.
Isa was not a good singer. Not that I was any better, but there was a difference between just being a bad singer and being a bad singer andknowingyou were a bad singer.
The pause in Ellison’s joke didn’t seem to phase her. “Nope! For all I know, he could think I sound like a dying cat. I think I’m better off not knowing.”
“Well, you know what they say about cats and curiosity.” Ellison bit her lip, holding back a laugh, and I did the same.
They weren’t joking when they said Erin was tall. I considered myself to be slightly above average height at five-foot-seven, and I was taller than both Ellison and Isa, but Erin towered over all of us. She had to have been at least five-foot-eleven with a slim frame, light-brown hair, and mossy green eyes. While Ellison and I were alike in our mannerisms, Erin and Isa were almost identical in their personalities.
Isa and Erin immediately started chatting, but it wasn’t something I could follow. It was like they picked up whatever conversation they had left off last time they spoke.
“Do you ever feel left out when other people come to hang out with you and Isa?” I asked Ellison, the question slipping out. I knew Isa and Ellison were best friends, but sometimes when Ava would invite other girls, I didn’t know where I fit in the group.
She raised a brow. “What do you mean?”
Heat rushed to my cheeks, and I tucked my hair behind my ears to give my hands something to do. “It’s stupid, but I was just wondering if you ever felt like a third wheel in the friendship.” It sounded more ridiculous after verbalizing it.
“Honestly, not really.” My stomach dropped, but she continued. “Isa’s extremely extroverted, so she’s always making friends. Everywhere we go it’s like she runs into someone she knows. I’m content being alone and pretty secure in myself, so it’s never bothered me before, but I think you’re valid in having those worries. At a certain point, you just realize that the people who are meant for you will stick around. And if you’re having to wonder, then maybe that person was never for you.”
“I guess I’ve just always wanted people to like me, so I did what I could to keep them around.”
“That’s important, but so is how you feel about them. Your friends should make you the best version of yourself. I know Isa does for me. Her friendship serves me and my life as much as my friendship serves her. I wouldn’t be where I’m at if it weren’t for her.” Ellison looked toward her friend and smiled.
I’d never looked at it that way. With Ava and Brady, all I’d wanted was to be seen, to be heard. But I shouldn’t have to beg for someone to be in my life, to care about me. I saw that now, in the way Ellison interacted with Isa, Colter, and even the other guys.
Real friends saw your value in your true, authentic self.
After the second night of Colter and Reid’s series, we headed back to the trailers, none of us wanting to go out.
“I think we’re doing a good job of this whole fake relationship thing, don’t you think?” Mikey lay on the pullout couch on his side, propping himself up on his elbow. From the beginning, I’d insisted that we not share the bed when he had a perfectly good couch that I could sleep on. It still didn’t stop him from lying on it until he went to sleep, though.
I nodded as I took a sip of water. “I don’t think anyone suspects a thing.”
The media attention, though not ideal, had also been helping make our relationship seem more believable the past couple weeks. I wondered if Ava and Brady had been seeing it on social media at all. We were well over halfway through the rodeo, so I wouldn’t be surprised, given Mikey being Brady’s favorite bull rider, but what did shock me was that neither of them had tried to reach out. I’d blocked their numbers, but not all of their socials, so if they really wanted to talk to me, they could have.
Before I could say anything else, hushed voices from outside the trailer caught our attention.
