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“Don’t…I can’t, Lincoln.”
“You can’t what baby?”
I was lost in my own thoughts and didn’t answer him. He rubbed his nose on my earlobe. I felt thegoosebumps run right through me. “Talk to me. Let me show you just how sorry I am.” He pulled me in closer and began to kiss down my neck. I was trying so hard not to let my guard down. I can’t. I can’t let him do this to me with no consequence. I swallowed the knot in my throat and pulled away from his embrace to look up at him.
“You lost that privilege when you called me temporary.” His smile fell.
He paused and smoothed his thumb over my lips, and the gesture made me close my eyes and hold my breath a little. “Let me apologize to you properly, and I will apologize every single night and day until you are sick of me.” He leaned in and pecked my lips. I felt my body betray me and shiver, and it felt like a fire was re-lit throughout my entire body. I looked away from him because I couldn’t look him in the eye any longer. His voice caught in his throat. “I can’t let you go, Aubrey; I can’t lose you.”
My heart broke, but I knew I had to make him understand me. I gained some courage and smirked as I lifted my head, looked him right in the eye, and leaned in toward his ear. I saw him visibly shutter as I got close.
“You already did.” I walked away without another look back. I walked as fast as I could to my car. I texted Dan that I was leaving and he came out immediately. I sobbed all the way to bed.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Aubrey
The next two days of helping at the school went without much incident from Lincoln. I kept myself busy during the breaks and made sure I was never directly next to him or alone with him. This week was only auditions, and I can already tell that this show will be amazing; I’m pretty sad I won’t be here for its entirety. Who knows, maybe I’ll come to the show in May to support it.
It's finally Friday and today I get to see Brie. I just can’t wait to hug her and fall apart in her arms. I haven’t told my family or friends about what happened because I’m embarrassed, but I know I will have to tell them now that Brie will know.
As I’m waiting for Brie to walk out the airport doors, I can’t help but prepare myself for her chatter. My sister is pretty quiet when it comes to most people, but when she gets around someone she’s comfortable with, she doesn’t shut up. She’s going to have so much to tell me about her trip with her friends; I can already hear her excitement. I feel bad that I am going to ruin her time here with the news of my breakup. Maybe I shouldn’t tell her right away. It won’t hurt to tell her tomorrow, right?
“AUBS!” she yelled as she threw her bags down.
“BEAN!” I yelled back.
She hugged me so tight I thought I would lose my breath. She is a strong little thing. She pulled back to look up at me with her pretty green eyes. She was crying happy tears, and at that moment, I noticed I was too. “How are you? How’s August? How’s Liza? How’s Li—”
“Slow your roll, Bean.” I couldn’t help but laugh because, as I said, this was what I expected. “Let’s get you in the car before we overwhelm each other with questions.” I wrapped my arm around her shoulder, grabbed her bags, and put them in the trunk.
“Where’s Link? I thought for sure you would be showing him off right away.”
My stomach dropped. She wasted no time at all. “He’s been working a lot.” I felt terrible telling her a half-lie. Although he is working a lot, that’s not why he’s missing in action right now. “I got us a hotel room so we could have some alone sister time. So how was your trip?”
She looked suspicious but didn’t comment about the hotel. “The trip was amazing. We saw so many different things. I have a ton of pictures to show you. I hope you don’t have any plans tonight because we are looking at all of them. Oh, and I met a boy… he’s from Maine, and we connected on one of the tours we did, so we swapped numbers, and we’ve been texting each other a little.”
I was shocked and it showed. My mouth was gaping open like I was catching flies or something. “My baby sister met a boy!” I was screeching in excitement. “I need all the details right now.”
She slapped me on the arm. “Chill. Just drive and try not to kill us,” she laughed. “Plus, it’s nothing serious, just friends, and we have a lot in common. We did kiss,” she blushed and averted her eyes.
“Oh my god Bean, did you—”
She cut me off. “God, no. You know I wouldn’t sleep with someone I just met. You know my history. Plus it made me really uncomfortable and I just wasn't ready. I’m waiting for that forever kind of thing.”
She winked at me. She always knows how to make me smile, though when she said that it made me think of Lincoln. My smile faltered slightly.
She put her hand on my arm. “What happened?”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
She gave me a knowing look. “I saw the smile come and go when I said forever kind of thing. So what happened? And whose ass am I kicking?” She was joking about that last part, but her smile also fell, and her voice got softer. “Did he hurt you?”
“Bean, I’m fine. Let’s talk about it when we get settled.”
She let it go as I continued driving. We just sang and listened to music the rest of the way to the hotel.
“What do you mean you are overbooked?” I asked the hotel attendant. I was being rude unintentionally, but this is the only hotel in town. I have no other options.
