“Why her? She’s hot, yeah. But, like… she must have god-tier pussy or something.”
“No.” His shoulders moved up with a single chuckle. “She’s a pillow princess who thinks blow jobs are for whores and gays.”
His face burned as soon as he said it, and a second passed with us just staring at each other until we both burst out laughing.
I said, “Well, at least you're not shallow enough to fall for it just ‘cause she’s hot and good in bed.”
“Like a dead fish, bro. Not that you’d know, but like, trust me.” He laughed harder.
“What wouldn’t I know? Dudes can be both pillow princesses and dead fish in bed.” My face screwed up in mock offense.
“True. I guess you’re—OH fuck!”
“What?!” I said. Miles looked like he had just deleted my save file. “What? You’re scaring me.”
“I can’t believe I didn’t tell you, but, uh…” He looked at me, then away, and back again. “Finn told us.”
I didn't understand. “What do you mean? Told who about what?”
“Finn was there last night with Mom and Dad and Lena. He came out to us and said you guys were together. He said he loved you.”
My eyes fluttered, and my chin pulled back. I couldn’t process it. Were we together? Other than the one missed call this morning, I hadn’t heard from him since he left my apartment the day before. I assumed that was my mother getting him to check on my safety. I blinked again as my head spun. Why no text? Or voicemail? But then… he said he loved me? And came out to my parents?
“You need to elaborate,” I said.
He did. It didn’t make me feel any better. It sounded like he only told them to help Miles see how terrible Bree was, which worked. He admitted hearing it snapped him out of the spell he had been under.
I told him about our fight, the “revenge” plot that wasn’t, how Lena let it all slip. His reaction to the plot was, “Fuck, that would’ve been hilarious… and terrifying.” Though even through his laughter, he was losing steam.
But his reaction to Finn knowing we talked about him wasn’t jovial, and left him looking even more green around the gills. “He…. Fuck, man. He knew? He knows that we, like, suspected he liked you?”
“From what I gathered before he stormed off, he thought we were laughing at him.”
“What?! No fucking way! I love you two together! Are you fucking kidding?! We’ll hang out all the time. You’ll never get rid of me!” Miles expended energy he didn’t have, and that expense was written all over his pale, clammy face.
“I know, I tried to tell him that, but… It is what it is.”
“Fuck,” Miles looked worse by the second. “He sat there last night, with all of us, and just… fuck, man.” A beat passed. “I think I’m gonna be sick.”
“About Finn?”
“No, everything. It’s just—” He jumped up and ran to my bathroom.
When he returned, his skin was paler and clammier, and breathing was shallow. I knew acute stress when I saw it. Plus, he said he hadn’t slept. That was enough for the moment.
“Lay down,” I said, pointing to my love seat. He tried to protest, but I insisted. “You need to rest. You look like shit, and now you’re puking.”
I put on a cooking show I knew he liked, and he was snoring in under ninety seconds. I needed the rest, too. Maybe I wasn’t puking, but I’d been close all morning.
If Finn told my freaking family he loved me, then he must not want to end things, right? Or maybe that was a final act of bravery to save his best friend? It had been hours since he had called me. Why not?
My head swam, and I lay back. I could call him, but that felt futile. Thinking about it made my head feel worse. I liked that cooking show too and watched for a few minutes. Maybe I’d rest my eyes for a minute, too. Just a few seconds.
Chapter Twenty Six
Finn
Iwoke up in my bed hours later. The kink from sleeping in the car had turned my neck into cement, and I groaned. I couldn’t have been hungover from two glasses of champagne, but I was. My head throbbed, and my stomach roiled. I picked up my phone to see nothing from Ryder or Miles, or anyone.
