AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 1
Lillianna
August
I’m going to do it. I’m going to tell him that I love him.
Taking a deep, encouraging breath, I wipe my sweaty palms on my yellow sundress as I stand up and follow Toby outside the door he just left through a few minutes ago.
“Where are you going?” my best friend, Bianca, asks.
“I’m just going to get another drink,” I lie, my eyes glued to the door and my heart pounding painfully in my chest.
I can’t believe I’m doing this. One step at a time, my feet carry me out the door and down the front steps of the house where the party is being held at.
Biting my lip, my eyes scan the front lawn, looking for Toby.
“Hey there, il mio cuore,” Bishop, Toby’s best friend, says as he joins me at my side. “What’re you doing out here?”
“Have you seen Toby?” I ask, not looking his way as I squint my eyes, scanning the treeline again.
“Ah, yeah. He just went that way. Said something about needing some air,” Bishop answers, waving his hand to the left.
“Thanks,” I say and start to head in that direction.
“Lilly, wait!” he calls out. I pause and look over my shoulder.
“What?” My brows furrow in question. He looks out at the forest then back to me, a worried look taking over his handsome features.
“Maybe you should just wait for him here. I’m sure he’s not going to be long.” He lets out a nervous chuckle, running a hand through his dark brown hair.
I give him a weird look. “Why are you acting so funny?”
He lets out a heavy sigh before shoving his hands in his pockets. The look of pity on his face has my belly swooping nervously. “Look, he was with a girl. I just don’t want you walking in on anything, okay?”
A girl? Since when does Toby hang out with other girls? He’s never shown interest in anyone before.
I’m sure Bishop is mistaken. He should know Toby better than that. I spin around, walking fast toward the trees, leaving Bishop and his stupid sympathetic look on the steps.
No. He has to be mistaken. There’s no way Toby is out here with a girl. He came here with me tonight, just like he always does. He’s been with me all night dancing and laughing. The way he touched me as we slow danced...you can’t fake something like that.
He wants me. I want him. I have for as long as I can remember. And I’m finally going to tell him.
Once I get to the treeline, I pause for a moment, and that’s when I hear murmuring voices coming from behind the shed next to the house.
Every step closer, I feel my legs growing heavy, my eyes welling with tears. I pray Bishop is wrong, that Toby is just here with some friend, talking. That I won’t walk into something that's going to shatter my heart.
But as I creep around the corner, I stop and watch as the blood in my ears pounds painfully.
“You know, I’ve been trying to get you to ask me out all year,” Tiffany Watson, head cheerleader of Silver Valley High, runs her hand down Toby’s arm. He looks down, watching her. I can’t read the look on his face but he’s not doing anything to stop her.
“Really?” He sounds uninterested and that lets me breathe just a little bit easier. But it doesn’t settle the white hot jealousy filling my veins as I hold back angry tears.
“I guess my flirting game is off if you didn’t even notice.” She giggles, tucking her auburn hair behind her ear. “Any time I tried to get you alone, you're always with your little sister.”
He shoots her a hard look. “I don’t want to talk about her,” his voice comes out in an almost growl. Hurt splinters through my chest at his anger toward just the thought of me. “I came out here to think.” He looks up at the sky, shifting his body to lean back against the tree and causing Tiffany’s hand to fall from his arm.
She steps closer to him, and all I want to do is scream at her, tell her to get away from him, or beg him to push her away.
