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“Don’t worry, I won’t do it again,” he quietly said as if he could hear my thoughts.
“How did you— actually, don’t answer that.”
“So the boyfriend… Did you talk to him? Get his side of the story?”
“Not really. He keeps texting me.”
“Let me guess. It’s nothing?” He peeked up at me. “She’s a friend. It’s not what you think?”
“That’s—” I stopped myself. Because he was right, that was exactly it. “The night before he left… He said he thought some space would be a good thing.”
“Ouch.”
“Right? I mean, I know I’m not the easiest girl in the world to love.”
“What?” He reared back a little.
“I guess I’ve been keeping him at arm’s length. We haven’t… you know.” Aiden gawked at me as if I was talking in another language, and I added, “Sex. We haven’t had sex yet.”
“But your mom said you’ve been dating for almost nine months.”
“My mom has a big mouth, but she’s right. We have.”
“And you haven’t had sex.”
“Correct.”
God, why had I told him? But it was out now. And strangely, I didn’t mind.
“How is that even possible?”
“I guess you would say that,” I murmured, rolling my eyes as I stared out at the lake.
“Whoa, what the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“I’ve heard the stories, Aiden.”
“Right.” He tensed. “Because the stories are always true. I’m the bad boy of the Lakeshore U Lakers. Fighting and fucking my way through college. I’m glad we cleared that up.”
I winced at the anger in his words, the pain. “Sorry, I didn’t mean—”
“Yeah.” He looked over at me. “You did.”
“Well, it was a shitty thing to say.”
“Yeah, it was.”
“Guess that makes us even.” I smiled.
Something crackled between us. The same spark that had existed that first night. I wasn’t a huge believer in fate or destiny or kismet. How could I be when I’d lost my brother. But I felt it now like I had that night.
“Have you ever been surrounded by people only to feel totally alone?” he asked, his voice a quiet, uncertain whisper on the breeze.
“All the time.”
“Sometimes we do stupid shit to feel something, Dayna. To remind us that we’re alive.”
His words hit me like bullets, tearing through my carefully constructed defenses. Whatever pain, betrayal, and heartache Aiden had lived through, it had deeply affected him.
