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Tully leaned her head back and sighed towards the ceiling. “I’m sorry I lied to you.”
“I admit it’s a lot to take in,” he said, taking a seat on the edge of her bed. “I would’ve never pinned you and Rondeau together.”
“That was kind of the point. I pretended to date Nathan Rondeau to get back at Joliet. It was so outlandish it was meant to drive her crazy.”
“Until it became too real?”
She nodded at that knowing look on his face. “Yeah. Until that.”
When she breathed in again, everything around her was lighter. She’d been lying and hiding things for so long they compounded into a boulder and she’d felt like she was sinking.
So here she was, taking another pebble off the boulder she built.
“If it makes you feel any better, I lied to everyone. Joliet, Nathan, Mom, Dad, everyone in school . . . myself.”
He nodded slowly, studying her and thinking about something.
“So what are you going to do about it?” he asked after a minute of contemplation.
“There’s nothing else I can do,” Tully rubbed a hand over her face and closed her eyes. “Everyone is going to know soon, I’m sure.”
“Everyone?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Does Rondeau know you’ve been lying to him too?”
“No,” she mumbled. Nathan knew so many of her secrets, but he didn’t know the biggest one. How much she loved him. She never did get to answer him on the porch. “I’ve liked him for so long, but I never imagined he’d like me back.”
“Why the hell are you telling me this, Tully?”
She frowned and raised a brow. “Youaskedme.”
“No, I mean why are you tellingmethis when you should be tellinghim,” he said, shaking his head and ticking his tongue like he was chastising his ridiculous little sister. “You want to confess to someone? Confess to the poor kid. I could tell he was whipped the moment he stepped on our porch with that gift in hand.”
He pointed to the red and green present Tully had almost forgotten about, still tucked under her arm with her blanket.
Tully’s heart picked up pace, and her back straightened. Even Eugene noticed in ten seconds what she hadn’t been able to see in five months until Nathan had to practically throw himself at her feet to get her to see. Before they were interrupted, of course.
But even then, she was unsure of what she was going to say. Maybe shewasa tiny bit grateful for Joliet’s intrusion. It bought her time.
She sat down on the ground with the gift. It weighed no more than a few pounds, and when shaken there was a soft sliding sound inside. It didn’t feel fragile, and as she wracked her brain for possibilities it came up blank.
She studied the gift wrapping and huffed a soft laugh under her breath. Haphazard pieces of tape holding together poorly wrapped festive paper. A corner of a white box stuck out where he’d missed a spot.
It was him in all the best ways.
“I’m scared.” She closed her eyes again and took a deep, shaky breath. She hadn’t wanted to admit it for so long, that once she said it, she couldn’t tell if it was a relief or not.
“Screw that. You’re too young to be scared.”
“Words of everlasting wisdom.”
Carefully, as if she might break something, she pinched a corner of the wrapping paper and ripped it off, exposing more of the box.
“I’m serious. Take a chill pill and do it. What have you got to lose?” Eugene said.
Whatdidshe have to lose?
