Page 128 of Tell No Lies

“No, let me finish. I’ve tried over and over again, but you don’t see me. I took you out and told you things I’ve never even told my best friends, and what do you do? You go out with Luke the very same weekend. I opened up to you, and you go off and become best friends with the one guy I warned you to stay away from. I’m never going to be enough for you, and I’m done trying. Everyone else sees how I feel about you. Everyone except for you. I’m done looking like a fool while you go out with every other guy but me.”

I was shaking by the time he finished. He was right. I dated Luke instead of him. I grew closer to Gage instead of him. I’d chosen Tucker over him, twice.

I didn’t deserve him. I didn’t even deserve to know him.

The pain in my chest was spreading as my eyes filled with tears that threated to spill over. I stayed rooted where I was, despite everything in me screaming to reach out for him. “I am truly sorry, Mike. You’ve been so kind to me, and I’ve done nothing to deserve you. I can’t change what I’ve done, but I can’t stand to lose you.”

As those words left my mouth, I felt how true they were. He was my rock. He had been there for me through this whole mess. I looked up at him through the tears and didn’t bother brushing away the ones that had broken free.

“I need you, Mike.”

He closed his eyes for a moment, and when they opened, he looked down at me. One step toward me was all I needed to throw my arms open and wrap them around him. I was openly crying now and made no moves to cover it up. I was broken, and he knew what to do to fix me.

Slowly, he pulled me against him, holding me tight. “I need you too, but I can’t stand back and watch you with other guys. I don’t want to give you an ultimatum, but I need to know that you choose me. I don’t want to just be your friend anymore. I want you to be mine, just mine.”

Keeping my arms around him, I looked up. “You want me? As …”

“As my girlfriend.”

Was this what I wanted? I knew I needed him in my life, but I also needed Gage and Carter.

Carter.

Being Mike’s girlfriend would mean I was giving up on him. Not that there was anything between us. Just my feelings, which he didn’t seem to care about. He was the one who’d told me to date guys from my school, after all.

Mike was everything I could want. He was strong and handsome and treated me like a princess. He made me happy, and I knew I was safe with him. I never let myself consider him as something more than a friend when I was with Luke, but now I could see us together. I knew I would be happy with him.

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

I looked into his eyes and smiled. “I want to be yours. Just yours.”

Suddenly his smile was back, and it was enough to take away the sadness that had plagued me since Saturday night. Just one smile from him, and I felt whole again.

He leaned forward and suddenly his lips touched mine. He seemed apprehensive, so I brought my hands up around his neck, pulling him closer. He deepened the kiss, and every thought disappeared from my mind. This felt right, as if I was exactly where I belonged.

He pulled away and rested his forehead against mine. His smile reached his eyes for the first time all day. We stood like that, with our arms around each other, until someone behind us started clapping.

I jumped and turned around to see Mckayla grinning like crazy and slowing her applause. “This is the most precious thing I’ve ever seen, but class is about to end, so we need to get back.” She winked at me before turning around.

Giggles escaped me as Mike reached for my hand and led me to my class. When we got to the door, he stopped and gave my hand a squeeze.

“I’ll meet you after your last class and walk you out. Okay, girlfriend?”

Still giggling, I nodded and stood up on my tiptoes to plant one last kiss on his cheek. “Okay, boyfriend.”

Fifteen

I had a boyfriend. Over the course of a few class periods, I had gone from being frozen out by all of my friends, to taking advice from Gage, to being forgiven, to having a boyfriend.

Talk about drama.

Chemistry was usually fifty minutes of playing don’t make eye contact with Luke, but now I was playing that game with everyone in the class. A few minutes into the lecture, whispers spread and phones were vibrating every few seconds. I tried to tell myself that maybe a fight had broken out, or a celebrity had been sighted close by. Anything to convince myself that word hadn’t already spread about me and Mike.

My fears were confirmed when the last bell rang, and Luke made his way to my desk while I was putting my things away. “I just heard the news. I’m happy for you, Aubrey.”

Suddenly, I was confused. Why was he happy for me? Maybe this wasn’t about my new relationship status. “Thanks?”