She nodded as though she understood, but all I could think of was what Aurora had said the day we broke up. “You love her. I can’t compete with her. But you might as well bury that crush because she’s your brother’s, not yours.”
Penelope cleared her throat and crossed her legs on the corner of my couch.
“Truth or dare?” I asked.
“Truth.”
“Did you love Foster?”
I knew it was stupid and dangerous to bring his name into the room, but I had to know where her feelings for him stood. It was selfish.
She sipped her beer, and I figured she wouldn’t even answer. I was ready to take it back and say I’d ask another question before she opened her mouth.
“I’m not sure he wants anyone to fall in love with him.”
Her answer only spurred other questions, but she continued.
“He’s great. But there was this wall I felt like I would never get through. Does that make sense?”
I nodded because I knew that wall well. Even with me, he’d only lowered it about three-fourths of the way, and I was always afraid that he’d erect it again as fast as he could with one misstep by me.
Hell, just me hanging with Penelope might make him do it.
She leaned against the chair, spreading her legs out in front of her. “He’s a hard read.”
“I know.”
She put her beer down and rubbed her hands together as though she was ready to nail me with a big question. “Truth or dare?”
“Truth.”
“One of us needs to take a dare soon, but okay, let me think.” She tapped her finger to her lips. Her nails were painted a deep purple. I never saw her without painted nails. “Did you ever think about…” She shook her head, her cheeks turning the cutest shade of pink. “Never mind.”
I nudged her foot with mine. “What?”
She took another sip of her beer, and I watched her chest rise and fall. “Did you ever think that we… I mean, back in high school?”
She had to have known. That pull between us never went away.
“No. Not once. You?”
Her mouth fell open, and I laughed. She picked up a bottle cap and threw it at me.
“Yes, Pen, I thought about us a lot. And not only in high school.” There, I’d said it.
“Oh.” The color on her cheeks deepened, and she picked up her beer.
“That day at your house when I saw you for the first time in college… the minute I saw you, I wished I didn’t have a girlfriend.”
Her gaze fell to her lap. “It’s probably for the best. I mean, we might have destroyed this.” She waved her finger between us.
“For sure.”
Our words were all the right ones, but it was clear it wasn’t how either of us actually felt.
She stood and put her beer on the table. “I have to use the bathroom.”
I watched her walk down the hall. And what had started as a fun game had morphed into something else.
