Page 32 of Broken Ties (Rixon High 4)

Poppy

Friends.

He couldn’t have made it any clearer than that.

When Aaron had approached me in the hall at school, some foolish part of me thought he might finally be ready to admit his feelings for me. That maybe, just maybe, he wanted to fix the fracture in our friendship and explore the deep connection that had always existed between us.

How wrong I’d been.

He didn’t want to confess anything—he wanted to offload his worries and disappointments on his trusty sidekick, the girl who had always been there for him no matter what.

God, it hurt.

It hurt so much to know—to realize without a shadow of a doubt—that Aaron didn’t feel the same about me.

He didn’t look at me and see the girl he wanted to be with; he looked at me and saw his friend.

And the worst part of it was, even now, after everything, I couldn’t tell him. Because having him in my life was surely better than not having him.

This was my problem, my issue. I’d let my heart run away with herself and her grandiose ideas of our future. The one where he suddenly realized that he couldn’t live without me, that our friendship was simply a smokescreen for our real feelings toward one another.

“Poppy?”

“Yeah?” I schooled my expression, trying to act like the dutiful best friend I’d always been. The girl always ready to lend an ear and offer advice. The girl who saw a side to Aaron he rarely let others see.

I knew how much football meant to him, how badly he wanted to land a football scholarship to a Division I college. I saw how hard he worked. His quiet determination and drive.

“You zoned out on me there for a second.” He smiled. That smile, those dimples.

God, I was a sucker for those dimples.

“Sorry, what were you saying?”

“Do you think I should confront her? My mom, I mean?”

“I don’t know. They’re only trying to protect you.”

“I know, and I get it.” He sighed, dragging a hand through his hair. “The disappointment is… Fuck, Pops, it’s gutting. But I won’t let it impact my focus for the rest of the season. I can’t.”

“I can’t tell you what to do, Aaron. Only you know how you feel.”

“Yeah.” His heavy gaze pinned me to the seat.

When he looked at me like that, I sometimes felt it. The tether between us that I so wanted to believe was more than friendship. But he’d made it clear that he didn’t care whether I dated Eli or not, and I was done waiting around for him.

Friends.

That’s all we’d ever be.

“Remember ninth grade?” he said, leaning back in his seat. “The fair came to town and you really wanted to go through the fun house but you were too scared of the clowns painted on the entrance.”

“I remember. You blindfolded me until we were inside then held my hand around the entire thing.”

“Every time you startled you would dig your nails into my skin. I had little half-moons littering my hand and arm for days after.”

“I wasn’t that bad.”

He glanced up at me, eyes sparking with the memories. “You were pretty bad.” A grin spread across his face.

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