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Strained to hear if anyone was moving around or talking on the other side of it. Had Bria come home after he’d shut Tilly’s door on her? Or had she gone back to the party? Had she gone back to find her sisters, to complain about the idiot Australian who refused to see a good thing even though it was staring him right in the face?
Or was she out having a great time with Zeta and Elisa, relieved she’d dodged a bullet?
Damn it, why hadn’t he at least asked her for her phone number? He could’ve texted her, see if she was in there. What if he woke her up, and she told him to fuck off? What if—
Oh for fuck’s sake, mate. Knock on the bloody door. One way or the other, you’ll have your answers, and you won’t have to live with regret.
Live. That was the critical word, wasn’t it?
Or was it the optimal one?
“Stop wasting time,” he muttered, squaring his shoulders. He glared at the door, knuckles poised, and closed his eyes.
It’s now or never, Owen. What are you going to do?
“It’s all insane,” Bria muttered, shaking her head and turning back to where her sisters sat on Zeta’s bed watching her pace. “I shouldn’t feel like this so soon.”
Elisa frowned, flicked Zeta a look, and then gave Bria a gentle smile. “Of course it’s insane. Everything you do in your life is insane, Bri. You throw yourself into life one hundred and fifty percent. But that doesn’t make it wrong.”
“Obviously, the guy’s a moron,” Zeta declared, hugging one of her pillows, resting her chin on it. “Only a moron would walk away from a life with you.”
“A cute moron,” Elisa offered.
“Hell yeah,” Zeta agreed.
“You’re not helping,” Bria protested, scowling at them.
Identical grins flashed at her.
She threw up her hands and started pacing again, alternating between chewing on her lip and her thumb.
“Why is this irritating me so much?” she muttered.
“Because even though you’ve had years of knowing what you didn’t want,” Elisa said, her voice as gentle as her earlier smile, “you weren’t really sure what you did want.”
“What you do want,” Zeta clarified.
“And what’s that?” Bria asked, her pulse pounding harder than it should.
“Someone with a brain and a sense of humor,” Zeta answered. “You thought you were meant to be with a brainless jock like Simon, because let’s be honest here, Bri, that’s all you’ve ever thought you were. You’ve never recognized your own worth, not really, so you’ve settled for those that didn’t either.”
“Like Simon,” Elisa said.
“Ouch.” Bria stuck out her bottom lip, even as her stomach clenched and a prickling heat crawled up over her scalp. “But fair.”
Both Elisa and Zeta chuckled.
Bria rolled her eyes, stomped to the bed, and dropped onto it with a sigh.
“But here’s the thing, Bri,” Zeta went on, lobbing the pillow at her. “You’re smart and funny and maybe, finally, you see that in yourself instead of just seeing the adrenaline-junkie sky-diver who is convinced she failed at the only thing she believes she’s good at.”
“Ouch.” Bria tossed the pillow back at her. “Again.”
Zeta raised an eyebrow. “But also fair. Again.”
Bria threw herself backward onto the mattress. “Also fair. Again. Maybe.”
“And maybe,” Elisa said, wriggling over to Bria’s side to brush a strand of hair from her face, “your cute Aussie math teacher has something to do with this sudden and long-overdue self-realization you’re experiencing, and maybe that’s why you’re pissed. Because you’re scared.”
