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She stares adoringly into my face, running her thumb along the edge of my jaw. “What are you thinking?” she asks, her voice a quiet, happy tinkle in the room.
Meanwhile, my thoughts are still speeding like a race car circuit. And if I don’t get this off my chest, I’m going to go insane. I can’t hold it in any longer.
Hovering over her again, I hold her pale blue stare and blurt over the rock in my throat, “I’m falling in love with you, Karli.”
It’s been weeks since I figured it out. It’s only fair that she knows it, too.
A beat of silence sits between us. Then it builds into something longer. And the longer it grows, the wider her eyes get.
“I don’t know what to say,” she croaks back. She looks terrified.
“You don’t have to say anything,” I assure her. “I don’t expect you to—Wait. Where are you going?”
Out of nowhere, Karli is in the process of sliding out from under me. When she puts some space between us, she sits close to the edge of the bed with her legs hugged up to her chest.
“I, uh…Remember—this is all just temporary…?” she says with a panicked shake of her head. Her eyes come to mine, full of uncertainty. “I don’t even know what I’m doing with my life when the summer is over. I’m more like a two-month plan kind of girl. You’re a five-year plan kind of guy. I don’t know if we have a future together, Mason.”
I sit up, too, as panic begins to simmer in my blood. “I don’t care about any of that. We don’t need to plan shit out. Let’s just keep taking this one day at a time.” I mean, it wasn’t that long ago that we agreed that we were just friends, so look at how wellthatplanning turned out.
“I don’t know if I can ever give you what you need, what you deserve…” Karli is saying, fear written all over her face.
Frantic, I grab her hand. “I’m not looking for a commitment here. Just for two people to be willing to admit that they have feelings for each other. I’m just a guy who’s ready to tell my best friend that I’m crazy about his little sister.”
“Shit,” I hear her hiss under her breath. “I can’t…” Her eyes are growing watery again, and she won’t even look at me now. “Ican’tlove you. I can’t. I’m not allowed to. I’m sorry.”
“What…?” I mutter dumbly, even though I know exactly what she’s saying. Falling in love wasn’t part of the plan. I just flipped the script on its head and I know it.
“I just have no idea what I’m doing,” she continues. “If I get into med school, I could be moving to the other side of the country.”
“Fuck that, Karli. That’s not a good enough reason to throw this away. It’s just…not. So what if you have to move thousands of miles away? I’m willing to figure this out. To make this work. To upgrade to a frequent flier package.Whatever it takes.”
Because Karli Brighton is worth it.
I won’t let her push me away. I am going to fight for us.
I shift toward where she’s perched on the edge of the bed, desperate to be closer to her. Desperate to help her understand. “I’m not just doing this for me. I’m doing it for us,” I tell her. “We both know that we’d be good together.It’s just your insecurities flaring up and getting in the way.”
“Mason, I just…when we started hooking up, I thought it was just that. I didn’t expect it to lead anywhere. I didn’t think that feelings would get involved. Can’t we just keep things simple? Physical? Without getting emotions involv—”
“Stop it!” My roaring voice slices through the room.
“Stop what?” In quiet contrast to mine, Karli’s words shake ever so slightly.
“Stop making this all about sex when we both know it isn’t.” I pull in a breath to calm myself. “Karli, listen to me. I…I love you.” I want it to sink into her head.
The room goes perfectly still.
My heart tick-tick-ticks like a time bomb as I wait to hear what she’ll say.
Then her hushed words come. “Please don’t say that…”
My chest starts burning. “I don’t expect you to tell me you’re in love with me if you’re not there yet. Iwantit but I don’texpectit,” I assure her again. “But just…just tell me I’m not crazy. Tell me I’m not imagining that something is happening between us. Is something happening between us?”
She doesn’t answer my question. Of course not. Stubborn-ass Karli Brighton. Instead, she changes the subject. “I’m not perfect…”
“I never asked you to be perfect,” I grit out. “I just asked you to try. Are you even fucking trying? Or are you just planning to sit in your wounded, self-pity bullshit forever?”
She cuts her eyes at me, anger burning in her sizzling irises like a blue flame. “You’re being real charming right now.”
