My teeth bury themselves into my lip. “I’m never going to want anyone else. It’s always been him, and I couldn’t kid myself anymore. He makes me happy. He’s done his fair share of grovelling and proving I can trust him.”
Jade rubs my arm soothingly. “Then we’re really excited for you.”
“Thanks, guys,” I say on an exhale as I glance between them. “I’m really glad I can be honest with you, and you can be honest with me.”
“All we want is to see you happy,” Jade says wholeheartedly. “And if Finn makes you happy, then that’s what matters, but if he fucks up again, we have permission to destroy him.”
I snort softly. “He’s not going to fuck up again. I know it.”
“Good.”
“How was your break?” I ask as I flick my gaze between the pair of them.
“Disaster but funny,” Alice states, and I look at her with intrigue. “My nan got a little too drunk and ended up in a bush. She’s okay, and she laughed it off, but a little terrifying considering she’s eighty years old.”
My mouth falls open. “Jesus.”
“Yeah, she needed Jesus after all those Baileys she had.”
We burst into laughter, and my heart is filled to the brim with love.
When I headto my final class of the day, my eyes immediately snag on Alfie’s as I walk through the classroom door. I almost forgot about our project together. I’ve been having too much of a good time away from this place for it to even cross my mind.
“Hey,” Alfie says as I take a seat beside him.
“Hey,” I say politely.
I drop my bag to the floor and shuffle through my notebooks as I sense Alfie’s eyes on the side of my head.
“You didn’t reply to my text,” he says bluntly.
I blink as I turn back to look at him. “Huh?”
He leans forward, and I pull away slowly. “I texted you a few days after Christmas. I said that I missed you.”
When my throat tightens, I almost choke.The text that ended up with me and Finn having sex on his parents’ kitchen floor.
“Why didn’t you reply?” Alfie says with a pout that makes my skin crawl.
“It was a little inappropriate, no?”
He narrows his eyes at me. “Why would it have been inappropriate?”
“Because we don’t know each other that well.”
Alfie rests his arm against mine, and I chew on the inside of my lip at the disgust that filters through me. “Yeah, well, we can get to know each other. I like you, Maya. I think that’s obvious, and I don’t understand why you keep pushing me away.”
My nose wrinkles at his words, and I tell myself to calm down before I make a scene in the middle of class. Instead, I straighten my spine and move my arm away from him. “I’m with Finn, Alfie. That’s why it would be inappropriate.”
I have no idea what sort of thoughts are floating through his head, but his expression doesn’t look friendly or inviting. I owe him nothing. We barely know each other, and I shouldn’t feel scared to tell him the truth.
Alfie’s eye ticks and he sucks his tongue to his teeth. “Are you kidding me right now?”
“No.” I glare. “Why would I joke about that?”
“After everything he’s done?”
My nostrils flare. “You know nothing about him, about us. So leave it alone.”
