AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Instead of arguing more, I just dropped my head. “No. And she can’t, okay? She has this vow to go on a man ban for a year after this weekend. No dating. No guys. She wants to live her life the way I’ve been living mine. No strings attached, and completely committed to herself. It doesn’t matter how I feel about her. I need to respect her wishes.”
“Well, that sucks, dude,” Hayden said, and I spun to see him standing behind me.
A heavy sigh slumped my shoulders. “Great. Now you all know I got my ass sprung on a girl. Go ahead. Let me have it the way I’ve teased you all relentlessly in the past.”
“No, it’s not like that,” Jake said. “If you really have feelings for this girl, that’s a big deal, man. We know you. You don’t catch feelings, so if you did, then that’s some serious shit. We’re not making fun of you for that.”
“Really?” I looked between them, Ian joining the little huddle as well.
“Really,” Hayden agreed. “I mean, with what I do for a living, I can’t do the dating and marriage thing—”
“And are you ever going to tell us what that is?” Ian asked the question we’d all asked him countless times. “CIA? Secret Service? Some underground military agency? Come on, man. What the hell do you do?”
We’d grown up with Hayden. He’d moved up to Door County in middle school to live with his grandfather after his parents had died before the old man had also died his senior year. After that, with no other family left, he’d stayed at a friend’s house until he’d graduated and joined the Marines. But it was where he went after his enlistment that left us all scratching our heads. We’d see him every few years for big events, but otherwise, Hayden was a ghost. We didn’t know where he lived, what he did, or anything other than we still loved the guy like a brother. And when we asked him what he did, he always answered the same.
“That’s classified,” Hayden smirked. “But what I mean is that some of us can’t have that kind of life, so if you’ve got the chance to have this great girl, then do it, man.”
“What’s going on?” Evan asked as he joined us. “Everyone looks so serious.”
“Ethan fell for Ivy,” Matt answered quickly.
“What?” Evan’s eyes bugged open.
“Jesus! Now everyone knows!” I palmed my face.
“Tim’s busy dancing with Tami. Not everyone.” Hayden shrugged one of his bulky shoulders.
“Great. So Tim doesn’t know, but the rest of you all are in on my shameful little secret.”
“Nothing shameful about having feelings for a girl,” Evan said. “Especially one as great as Ivy. That girl’s a catch, man. No shame in that.”
“She’s pretty great, isn’t she?” I looked over Jake’s shoulder to see Ivy on the dance floor tearing it up with the bridesmaids.
“So, what are you going to do?” Ian asked. “You gonna tell her or what?”
“I dunno.” I let out a breath. “I mean, I want to, but I also don’t want to mess up this thing we’ve got going on. I’m having so much fun with her, and there’s a good chance telling her I want more could send her running in the other direction with that new vow she’s got going on.Andshe lives in Chicago. I don’t. I mean, how is any of this even going to work?”
“You won’t know unless you try,” Matt said.
“Exactly,” Ian agreed. “You don’t want to look back and think, ‘I wish I woulda.’ So, go tell the girl how you feel and lay your cards on the table, man. What’s the worst that can happen?”
“She tells me she’s not interested, and I finally learn what it’s like to have a broken heart.That’swhat can happen.”
“Yeah, it’s not fun,” Jake said, “but you’ll recover. Nikki has smashed mine to pieces a couple of times, and I’m still standing. You will too. But you won’t know if you two could have a future unless you try.”
“He’s right.” Matt nodded. “You’re the king of going big or going home. You’ve jumped off cliffs, out of airplanes, and probably a whole bunch of other shit I don’t even know about. So, get your chicken shit ass out there and let that girl know she’s not just a fling to you. Tell her how you feel, and then, no matter what she says, at least you’ll know you tried.”
At least I tried.That was something I often said after attempting something and falling flat on my face. But failure had never bothered me before. It was just proof that I had taken risks and pushed myself out of my comfort zone, which was how I lived. Yet nothing I’d done in life seemed as terrifying as walking over to Ivy and telling her to toss out rule number one and try having a relationship with me.
“This could end badly.” I scrubbed a hand across my face.
“Or it might not.” Ian arched an eyebrow.
I stared at Ivy on the dance floor and the way she seemed lost in the moment, dancing terribly with her arms over her head, only made me want her more.
“Okay. I’m doing it.”
“Atta boy!” Evan slapped my back.
