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“No, I didn’t feel good. I guess my stomach is not a fan of fire Cheetos.”
“Those things are gross and so is your soda combo. Fruit punch, Sprite, Dr. Pepper, and Coke combined would make anyone sick.”
“Speak for yourself. I happen to like it. But the Cheetos were a little too hot.” She removes her cell phone from her pocket to check the time. “You have me for another ten minutes.”
The alarm I had set on my phone buzzes in my pocket. An hour with Kat, after all this time apart, wasn’t enough. But it will have to do for now.
I hook my arm around her back and steer her toward the rec room to say goodbye to the twins and the rest of my teammates. Theo and Tucker are still engaged in their air hockey match, and the guys around them are chanting and cheering them on.
“Let’s just go,” Kat says, nudging me. “I can talk to them later.”
“You should have dinner with us tonight. We’re meeting up with everyone in the cafeteria.”
“Thanks for the offer, but after puking up Cheetos in a dirty bathroom, I kinda lost my appetite. I have to study anyway.”
“I can come by later and help you study. If you want.” At this point, I would do anything to get another hour or two with Kat.
“No, that’s okay. I promised Becca I would go over the final exam with her. We share the same class and notes, so it’s easier if we compare our answers.”
Once our feet hit the sidewalk, my stomach knots. The short walk to the dormitory is not enough to make up for the time we missed.
“You know, we don’t have to make things weird between us, Kitten. We can go back to the way things were before. I feel like you’re slipping away from me.”
She threads her fingers through mine. “I’m right here, Dean.”
“Then, why does it feel like you’re pushing me away on purpose? You never let exams or anything come between us. I helped you study for most of your tests—not Becca.”
“Are you jealous of Becca? If you are, you shouldn’t be.”
“No,” I grunt, annoyed. “But I want to be here for you, and you won’t let me.”
She stops walking once we reach the library and turns around to face me. “Do you want me to lie and tell you that things are the same? You know they are not. Dean, do you have any idea what it was like for me to hide in your closet while you talked to my brother about me like some puck bunny?”
“We went over this already, Kat. I apologized. What did you want me to do? I panicked. Neither of us wanted your brothers to know about that night.”
“My point exactly,” she mutters. “If we have to keep our relationship a secret, then we could never be more than friends, at least not in public.”
“But everyone already assumes we fuck behind closed doors,” I point out. “So, why not prove them right and do it?”
She frowns. “Because I don’t want to be some girl you fuck in private. I want to be the girl you can show off to the world. I want to be part of your life and not just as your friend.”
“What are you saying?” I slide my hands onto her hips to hold her in place. “That now we can’t even be friends?”
“We have two more weeks until graduation. How much do you think we will see each other after that? I’m off to Chicago for my internship. You will go back home to your mom and eventually leave for an NHL team.”
“I won’t accept that, Kat. We can spend the time we have left together. It doesn’t have to be like this.”
“It’s for the best,” she says, staring down at her feet. After all these years of friendship, she can’t even look me in the eye when she tells me the worst news I’ve ever heard. “There’s no point in setting ourselves up for failure. We want different things.”
“I want you,” I confess. “I want you to be my girl. My biggest regret is not saying that sooner. It was always you, Kitten.”
I move my hand up to her face, and a single tear falls from her eye and onto my skin. “If only that were possible.” She speaks so low her words are somewhat muted. “Only time will tell, I guess.”
“Meaning, what?”
“If by some chance you end up in Chicago, then we might have a shot at becoming more than friends.”
“I only want you in my life. Friends or lover
