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“There’s something I need to tell you,” I blurted as he clicked open my contacts. Because better from me than him finding out like this.
“Yeah?” he murmured, clicking a couple more keys.
When I tried to see what he was doing, he shielded the screen with one hand, and I braced myself. At any moment, his smile would fade as dawning sunk in.
“I have a secret. You know, sometimes people do things for one reason and then that reason changes.”
I wiped my sweaty palms on the tops of my jeans. “Or, maybe it’s that feelings change. Sometimes a secret becomes a lie, and the lie feels impossible to . . .” I tipped my head back, swallowing, gasping for air. I probably looked insane, and what the heck was I saying? If this was supposed to be a confession, I was failing. Big time.
“What I mean to say is what starts as an innocent secret turns into a huge mistake. Or maybe mistake isn’t the right word, but—”
“P . . . ?” Topher glanced up from the screen, and I waited with bated breath for the hostility that was sure to follow.
“What the heck are you yammering about?” He handed me back my phone.
I took it into my clammy palms, lungs burning like I just ran a marathon. “But I thought . . . ?”
“Sheesh. You can stop the freak-out—”
“I’m not . . .” I snapped my mouth shut because I was totally freaking out.
“All I did was add my number into your contacts. Your delicate sensibilities are still intact. That way, if you want to call or text me sometime, which I hope you do, the ball is in your court.” His gaze met mine meaningfully, and suddenly I was grateful I hadn’t changed his contact name from jerkwad.
“Oh.” My chest deflated and I could breathe again.
But then I remembered his father and homecoming, and I knew the inevitable was only delayed. Eventually, the truth would come out.
“Thanks,” I murmured.
Topher reached out and squeezed my arm. “Are you feeling okay?” He frowned. “It wasn’t your food, was it? You look like you might be sick.”
“Uh, no. No.” I reached up and rubbed the spot beneath my sternum where my heart slowed its marathon pace. “I just . . . heartburn. It’s heartburn.”
He lifted his chin with an unconvinced head nod while my dignity took a nosedive.
Heartburn? God, I was an idiot. Nothing like indigestion to make a boy swoon.
I better leave now before I told him I had gas.
“Anyway,” I said, opening my door with a wan smile, “Thanks again.”
I groaned and flopped onto my back in the grass of the courtyard. Scarlett and I just finished lunch outside so as to avoid Royal interaction.
“You told him you had indigestion? Classic.” Scarlett snickered.
I glared at her. “What am I going to do?” I sat up and plucked a dandelion out of the grass, popping the yellow top off. “Either way, I’m screwed. If I don’t text Topher, he’ll think I don’t want to talk to him. But if I text him, he’ll see that I’m Julie and know I lied. If I go ahead and tell him the truth now, or ever for that matter, he might hate me.”
“Or he might be super stoked. Because from where I’m sitting, it sure seems like he’s falling for both of you. Yeah, he flirts with Julie on the phone, confides in her, and asked her to homecoming,butyou’re the one he kissed. Discovering you’re also Julie would be like BOGO on chicks.”
I arched a brow at her analogy, then bit my lip, mulling it over. “No. I still think he’ll be upset that I lied. I mean, I totally played him.”
“Okay, so what other choice do you have?”
I ran a hand through my hair and sighed because I knew the answer, and I didn't like it one bit. “I have two choices. Julie stops texting him, and I tell him I only want to be friends, then further distance myself, so he never finds out.”
“Hate that plan.”
“Or . . .”
