He shrugs, and frowns at his lunch. “Yeah. Haven’t you?”
Still holding the handle, I tap my thumb against the rim of the cup. It’s a nervous gesture, and I can’t help it. I can’t look at Will, either.
The truth is, I hate the way everything fell apart between us. I shouldn’t have let one mistake ruin our friendship.Time to grow up and move on.
There are a dozen responses to his question, but only one that matters. “Yes.”
“Right.” There’s no mistaking his relief, and a little ripple of warmth swirls through me, giving the butterflies another intoxicating shot of adrenaline to play with. It’s crazy, but I never really considered that he might’ve missed the way we used to get on so well. Just assumed he didn’t care that things had gone bad between us. “Do you reckon we could be friends again?”
From the first time he came to the house he always got on well with my parents, and over the years attended most family things as though he was a third son. It’s not like we’ve been able to avoid each other for the last couple of years, even when we tried to.
At least,Itried to. To avoid going to his birthday party that Lucas arranged, I even made up an excuse that I had an emergency meeting at Great Ormond Street Hospital concerning the summer internship I had there.
It’s so hard pretending he’s nothing more to me than Lucas’s best friend. But that’s all he evercanbe. I’ve always known it.
He’s waiting for my answer like it really matters. Why am I second-guessing everything? I don’t want this senseless feud continuing until we’re old and wrinkly. We’re better than that.
Can we be friends again?
“I’d like that.” I give him a faint smile.
“I should’ve asked you a long time ago.”
“Better late than never.” Honesty compels me to add, “Then again, I could’ve askedyou.”
I tuck an escaped curl behind my ear before taking a bite of my apple and catch an irresistible smile on his face.
“What is it?”
“You. Snow White.”
My warm thoughts crash. He used to call me that when I was a kid, and I always hated it. Why did he have to spoil the moment? If I had any sense I’d ignore his comment. It’s not like I want to start an argument. But I’ve never been great at taking my own advice and the words are out before I can stop them. “I’m not a precious princess.”
“I know that.”
I’m so gladoneof us finds this funny. “What’s with the Snow White dig, then?”
“Dig?’ He appears genuinely confused. “Your hair’s always reminded me of Snow White.”
Wait. Myhair? “That’sthe reason?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh.”Crap. Did I just make a total idiot of myself? He doesn’t look as though I’ve stuffed up our newfound friendship.
I glance at my bright red apple and have the ridiculous urge to laugh.
An easy silence falls between us as we eat our lunch. God, Ihavemissed this.
“How’s your dad?” he asks.
“He’s good.” Well, as good as he’ll ever be without Mum. A familiar pang of grief hits me, and I take another sip of tea to clear my throat. You’d think after six years the pain wouldn’t be so bad, but I miss her so much.
Still can’t think about the last conversation we had without wanting to curl up into a protective ball.
When he doesn’t respond, I chance glancing at him. He’s finishing his coffee as though that’s the most important thing in existence, but there’s an odd tension that wasn’t there a few seconds ago.
Mentally, I slap myself. It was only three years ago his dad suddenly died. In a strange way that brought us closer together, both having lost a parent unexpectedly. A shared connection, under the surface, like an invisible bond.
