Page 9 of Seein’ Red

Walking away, my heart aches, wishing like hell I had a way to change the past. But I don’t. So, I’ll deal. Just as I have for all these years.

Because being Willa Hayes’s secret is better than not having her at all.

3

WILLA

I rush through the woods, down the well-worn path that leads to the small clearing right at the edge of Rocky Pond. The twins picked out this location in junior high, declaring it as “ours,” and all these years later, it’s still where we find ourselves hanging out. I like to imagine that it always will be.

Laughter echoes off the trees, not only from the group that is already here but the memories that fill these woods. A lot of important moments have happened here. This was the place we all met up the first time we snuck out. Where our other bestie Sylvie Forde revealed her crush on Z Noble, Kenzie’s cousin—although Kenzie and I had long had our suspicions. The spot where Noel had finally admitted to losing his virginity the summer after sophomore year in college. The only location Dustin could imagine asking Kenzie the ultimate question—which is exactly what he’d done a little over a year ago.

It’s also where Nash kissed me for the first time.

We were fourteen, convinced that we were up to no good with our “secret” spot in the woods. Looking back, we were not the badasses that we thought at the time—and our parents knew exactly where we were. Nonetheless, we felt on top of the world and all kinds of edgy, playing Truth or Dare, asking each other ridiculous questions and even more off-the-wall dares.

“Nash, I dare you to kiss one of the girls,” Dustin had said, a smirk on his face like he was proud of such a risqué challenge.

Nash had been up for it though. My heart beats faster, the same butterflies reigniting in my tummy as I think about the moment and how I knew it would be me. Dustin hadn’t quite worked up the nerve to ask Kenzie out yet, but we all knew it was coming. So she was out. And Sylvie…well, Sylvie looked like a deer in the headlights at the mere suggestion of kissing.

Leaving me.

The kiss was sweet, chaste, and borderline timid, although who could blame the guy—we did have an audience. The butterflies had taken flight though, leaving me feeling tingly for the rest of the night.

“There she is!” Kenzie exclaims as I enter the clearing, pulling me from my memory.

I push the nostalgia back down deep where it belongs, a big smile on my face, ready to celebrate my best friend.

“Sorry, sorry! I got stuck on a call and then ran home to change and got caught by Mrs. Chamberlain on the way out the door,” I lie, hoping I’ve inserted just enough of the truth to cover my ass. “She’s still angling for a Nashville invite.”

The whole group nods, understanding the pain of such a holdup.

“She’s lucky she got a Hickory Hills invite,” Dustin mutters. Kenzie elbows him, shooting him a look. I know she feels the same way, but her good southern manners would never have allowed the exclusion of a prominent town member. Even if said woman was the one who tried to break them up the second time.

“Cooler’s behind Camden,” Noel says from his spot closest to the pond.

Always the first to arrive and start the fire, Noel claimed the spot with his back to the water, directly across from where the trail leads in, almost as soon as we declared the spot ours. The defender of the group, he claimed he wanted to be the first to know if we had intruders.

In all the years we’ve been doing this, the only time we’ve ever been disturbed was once when a local deputy busted us for underage drinking. Still, we let Noel have his reasons.

Bronwyn is next to him, sandwiched in between the stump Noel sits on and the fallen tree that Kenzie and Dustin share. Sylvie and her boyfriend, Camden Tyler, the town vet, sit on Noel's other side, whispering something between them.

I park myself into the open camp chair next to Sylvie, same spot I’ve sat in for fifteen years. There’s a comfort in knowing that no matter how much changes, some things never do. We all might be older, life having taken us in different directions, but on a Friday night, we’re still the same teenagers sitting around a bonfire by the town pond.

“Where’s Nash?” I ask, playing dumb. “What possible excuse could he have for being this late?”

I try to look as nonchalant as possible, but even I don’t believe myself.

“He’s grabbing me a Diet Coke,” Bronwyn says. “Wires got crossed over here and I’m without.”

“How long can that possibly take? It’s just a Diet Coke.”

“And Cheetos for you, a Snickers for Sylvie, and peanut butter cups for Kenzie,” Nash replies, appearing into the clearing, a told you so tone to his voice.

“Nothing for the rest of us?” Dustin retorts.

“Did you need something, rock star?” Nash tosses the peanut butter cups at him playfully and the two bust out laughing. “Or are you just trying to steal my thunder for spoiling the girls?”

“Like these aren’t going on your s’more,” Kenzie mutters, unwrapping the packaging and starting to build the confectionary sandwich.