It was then that it all came rushing back in full force—the clear way he’d broken my heart without mercy.
And even if I took him back now, then what? What would happen at the end of the summer?
“Iamhappy with Jamie.” The urge to cry squeezed my throat, but I forced myself to speak through it. “And more importantly, without you.”
Dalton flinched, as if it were the last thing he’d expected me to say. I could see it then—he’d come back to Addison certain I’d take him back. I watched that certainty melt in his eyes, revealing something more alarmed.
“You’ve got blood on your face,” I bit out, and yanked the door shut between us.
I half expected Dalton to pull it back open, but he didn’t. I stood still for only a moment, swaying as if on a sinking ship, before I turned and ran.
Straight back to the room Jamie was in.
The door shoved in easily, since I hadn’t remembered to lock it behind me and Jamie hadn’t gotten up. He jumped on the bed, book jolting between his hands. He let out a soft curse from being startled, but didn’t have a chance to ask any questions.
“I’m screwed.” I slammed the door shut and threw my back against it, my crushed plastic cup tumbling from my fingertips. “I’m so, so screwed.”
Jamie slid a piece of paper into his book as a mark, clearly reading the distress on my face. “You weren’t even gone five minutes. What happened?”
“Oh, what happened?” A chuckle-slash-scoff combo punched out of me. “I ran into Dalton in the hallway. He told me he made the biggest mistake of his life and asked me to take him back. He leaned into kiss me?—”
“Did he?” Jamie dropped his feet over the side of the bed. His shoulders were tense as if braced for a blow. “Did he kiss you?”
“No,” I said. “Because he thinks I’m datingyou.”
Everyone thinks I’m dating you.
Jamie, though, didn’t react. Not immediately. Slowly, he pushed to his feet, expression unreadable.
My mind was finally clear enough that I could mentally visualize what Dalton might’ve seen in Jefferson. Jamie’s hands on my shoulders. His fingers catching mine when I’d nearly crossed the busy road. WhenDalton had asked where Nellie was, Jamie had said,Oh, this is just our adventure today. I remembered thinking the way he’d phrased it had been strange. And then, as I’d walked away, Jamie had slid his hand into mine again.
“Did you do it on purpose?” I demanded, stomping toward Jamie. “Were you trying toset a narrativeor something stupid?”
“No!” Jamie lifted his shoulders as I came closer. “No, I was justbeing me.”
I went to smack him, in typical Daisy fashion, but the fight went out of me the second my palm met his chest. “I’m so screwed,” I muttered, eyes slipping closed. “Because now I have to be honest. I have to tell him, no, actually, you and I arenottogether, and now he’ll think I was trying to make him jealous. That my world still revolves around him.”And I’ll have to admit that… maybe it does.
Jamie stood still, but I could feel his pulse beneath my palm. It thundered fast. “We could always do what Nellie suggested,” he said softly, words stilted as if he was second-guessing them as he spoke. Or regretting them. “And do a… fake relationship.”
“I don’twantto have a fake relationship,” I groaned. “Not with you, not with anyone. I don’t want to make Dalton jealous, or make him leave me alone. I want to?—”
I cut myself off, but it’d been too late. My expression was too open, and Jamie could read me like one of his books. “You want to take him back.” There was an undercurrent of something heavy in his voice when he spoke.
I slumped forward, my forehead colliding with thecenter of Jamie’s chest. He rocked with the movement, but otherwise didn’t move. “I know I’m stupid,” I grumbled into his hoodie, the dark feeling circling closer. “Iknowit’s a bad idea. I know it. I’d be stupid if I took him back.”
Words I’d kept carefully to myself, finally spoken aloud. I felt dirty speaking them. Horrible. It was an embarrassing confession that should’ve gone with me to my grave.
“What do you want me to do, Daze?” Jamie asked finally, and I could feel his low voice hum through him, vibrating in his chest. It almost sounded desperate. “Tell me what you want me to do.”
“Tell me you’ll never speak to me again if I take him back.” I tipped my head up to look into Jamie’s eyes. “Tell me you’ll hate me.”
“I could never hate you, Daisy.”
“Then just—help me not be stupid.”
It was wrong to put all the burden on Jamie’s shoulders, but this wasJamie. Just like he’d known what our Day of Fun should be, he’d know how to fix this, too. Jamie, who knew me like the cover of his favorite book, would know exactly what to do.
A soft buzzing sound came then, and Jame reached into his hoodie pocket to pull out his phone. “Nellie just got here,” he said, as ifthatwas the most important thing at the moment. “She’s downstairs.”
