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“It’s surprisingly easy to talk to you.” I smiled up at Cassius as we walked along the seafront pier, gulls circling overhead, and he returned my smile with a wink. I wasn’t used to feeling so comfortable around people, yet with him, I did. I’d unloaded all my confused feelings on him, and he’d listened without judgement. I was still confused, but I felt lighter. And the one thing I knew for sure was that my feelings for Carter hadn’t gone away. Not even slightly. After he’d kissed me, I knew I’d just been lying to myself. The question was, what was I going to do about it? Should I even do anything about it?
Being around the Drummond siblings had made me realise that I didn’t want to live my life with regrets, so I was going to give Carter one last push. Hence the reason for me arranging to meet up with Cassius today. Not just to get a guy’s point of view on the whole situation, but to get his advice on what to do.
Cassius threw one of his chips in the air, out towards the sea, and laughed as gulls swooped for it, fighting for a piece. The winner made a break for it, hotly pursued by three others. I pointed out the large sign attached to the pier railings. “Did you notice the ‘do not feed the seagulls’ sign over there?”
He laughed again as he threw another chip. “I choose to interpret the sign as a guideline rather than a rule.”
Rolling my eyes, I punched him playfully, and he grinned. I watched as the gulls circled closer, eyeing his almost empty bag of chips. “It would serve you right if they took that bag out of your hand.”
“They wouldn’t dare.” He shoved the last couple of chips into his mouth, then wadded up the bag and threw it in one of the bins that were spaced out at regular intervals along the pier.
Tucking a strand of my windswept hair behind my ear, I turned to him. “Being serious for a minute, thanks for the advice.”
“Anytime, babe. I don’t know much about relationships, but I do know a lot about how men think. Since I am one and all.” We stopped at the end of the pier and stood at the railing, and he sighed. “Men are stubborn bastards. One of my best mates, Cade—he was really into a girl, but he couldn’t admit it to anyone. Not even to himself. Even though it was really fucking obvious. To me, at least.”
“What happened? I stared out to sea, towards Chaceley Rock and the old, abandoned lighthouse there. I could just about make out the small patches of snow that hadn’t been washed away by the earlier rain.
“I came up with a plan that involved making him jealous enough to snap. Two plans, actually. I kissed the girl he was into…twice. First time was at a party at our house, and he was being a complete dick and was all over another girl, even though it was clear he wanted Winter. That’s the name of the girl he liked. Second time, because he was still being a stubborn dickhead, I roped in our two other best mates, and two of us took turns kissing her, knowing he’d react.”
“That was the idea you came up with?” I eyed him sceptically. Suddenly I wasn’t so sure about taking his advice. “And that worked? It doesn’t really seem like a great plan to me. I don’t want to kiss anyone else.”
“I wasn’t suggesting you should do it. I was just making a point.” He gave me a grin that looked kind of devious, and I was suddenly nervous. “This situation was different. And okay, maybe I had my own reasons for doing what I did. But it wouldn’t hurt to show Carter what he’s missing, would it?”
“What are you suggesting?” I asked slowly.
“Give me your phone.” Hesitating for a moment, I stood there, just looking at him, and his gaze softened. “Trust me.” Releasing a heavy breath, I handed it to him. “Okay, turn around and lean back against the railings.” He put his arm around me, dipping down so his face was close to mine.
“You’re not going to kiss me, are you?”
; He laughed loudly. “Don’t sound so horrified. Do you know how many girls want to kiss me? Men, too, for that matter.”
“Oh, I’ve heard all about your popularity from Lena. Sounds like nothing’s changed since you were at school.” Finally relaxing, I laughed, too, and he gave me a huge grin as he snapped a photo.
“There. Post that. Natural smiles look better. I can always tell when people are faking, and we want him to think you’re moving on without him. Make him wonder if there’s anything going on between you and me.”
I stared at the photo. It did look pretty good. Our heads were close together, and Cassius had his arms slung casually around me as we looked at each other with huge smiles. The winter sun was setting behind us, giving the photo a soft orange glow, and our faces were shadowed, but you could easily see we were both smiling. Chaceley Rock was silhouetted on the horizon, just visible behind Cassius’ shoulder, and the sea sparkled where the rays touched it. The photo could mean everything or nothing—it was completely open to interpretation.
“This is a really nice photo.”
“I know. Post it, then I’ll post this at the same time, to prove I was there.” He snapped a selfie of his face with his own phone, an easy grin on his lips. I envied his casual, carefree attitude. Both he and Lena were so assured, so confident.
I posted the photo with the caption “sunset” and tagged Cassius, then turned my phone off so I wasn’t tempted to look at the notifications.
“Thanks for helping out.” We started walking back down the pier.
“That’s what friends are for. Anytime you need a favour, tell me.”
We reached the end of the pier, where Lena was waiting for us. Cassius gave her a quick hug, and she smiled at him. Even though she’d recently dyed her hair a pastel pink, there was no mistaking the fact that they were siblings. Both tall and gorgeous, with almost identical smiles, it was easy to see why they attracted attention whenever they were together. Lena turned to me, surprising me with a quick hug, too. “Everything okay, now?”
Smiling, I nodded. “I think so, yeah. Or at least, everything feels less confused in my head. Your brother’s a good listener. Both of you are, in fact.” Turning to Cassius, I met his eyes. “Thanks for taking the time to do this.”
“I did have an ulterior motive. It was the excuse I needed to get everyone here so I could kick their asses at bowling.” He waved his hand towards the bowling alley that stood at the end of the pier, on the seafront. “You wanna join us?”
Hanging out with Cassius and Lena was one thing, but with their friends there as well? I shook my head. “Thanks, but no thanks. I need to get back and make a start on my homework, plus I have to send some design sketches to a client.” Client. I actually had people who were willing to pay for my designs—it hadn’t been a one-off. Of course, it was all very sporadic at the moment, with my schoolwork taking priority, but it gave me hope for the future.
“Okay. Lemme get your bike from my car.” Cassius jogged away before I could reply, and I sat next to Lena on one of the wooden benches at the bottom of the pier.
