Page 94 of Broken Ties (Rixon High 4)

“I need to go,” I said, moving around Zara.

“Aaron,” she called after me but I took off down the hall. I needed to run suicides or hit the gym or do something physical. But if I wanted to protect my shoulder, I couldn’t do any of those things, so I settled for slipping out of the building and heading for the bleachers. The one place I’d always been able to think.

The weather had turned the last few days, the cool wind chasing off the lingering warmth of summer. But I welcomed the bite in the air. It grounded me.

I’d had so many plans for this year. So many hopes. But nothing was working out the way I’d anticipated. And maybe I’d been a fool to think it would. To think that Pittsburgh would want me. Or that Poppy and I would continue dancing around one another without the added complication of other people. It was a mindfuck, to suddenly want her. When I’d ignored the chemistry between us for so long.

Friends.

She was and always would be my friend first. I wasn’t even sure I could ever cross that line with her—hypothetically, if it was a possibility.

It wasn’t.

But there was no denying that the boundaries of our friendship had begun to fray over the last year or so. Poppy had grown into a beautiful, confident, warm and kind young woman. She was the type of girl you brought home to meet your parents. The type of girl you settled down with. Except, my parents already considered her like a daughter.

If we ever crossed that line—and we couldn’t—there would be no keeping it from our families, no gradual getting to know each other or taking things slow and steady, because our lives were entwined. Deeply, intrinsically woven together.

It would be like dating family.

Except I’d never kissed a family member or dreamed about doing downright dirty things to them.

What the actual fuck?

I slammed my fist down on the bench beside me. I needed to get a fucking grip. There was never going to be an ‘us’ so I didn’t need to worry about it.

Poppy was my friend.

That’s all.

Anything else was irrelevant, and didn’t warrant me sitting on the bleachers by myself, hiding out like some pussy.

She could go to Homecoming with Eli and I could survive a night as Zara’s date. It would be fucking strange, watching her with a guy. Watching them flirt and dance and kiss. But I needed to get used to it, because if she couldn’t be with me, I couldn’t expect her to be with no one else.

No matter how much I hated the idea.

“Sofe, you awake?” I bellowed up the stairs, taking two at a time.

“I am now, jerk face,” she yelled back.

A smirk tugged at my lips as I knocked on her door.

“Come in.”

“Hey.” I slipped into her room. “How are—”

“I swear to God. Aaron, if anyone asks me one more time how I am, I’m going to lose my shit.”

“Mom been checking in?”

“Only every hour. She’s insufferable.” Sofia let out a weary sigh. “How was your day? Please tell me it was better than mine.”

My brows crinkled. “Apparently I’m going to Homecoming with Zara.”

“Ew. That’s… Ew.” She faked shuddered.

“She kind of railroaded me into it.”

“Ah yes, she’s known for her steamroller qualities.”

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