Page 25 of Full Circle

Maggie rolled her eyes and clutched a hand over her heart. “You wound me! You seriously think I wouldn’t notice the hearts in the eyes of my best friend?!”

Jealousy made me bristle a bit. “She’s my best friend,” I corrected in a huff.

She quirked an eyebrow in a way that told me how stupid she found the statement to be. “Not if you’re gonna go making her fall in love with you!”

It was my turn to roll my eyes. “It literally just happened!”

All I got was a swat to the arm in return. “Don’t hurt her!” Maggie warned again before pushing me towards a confused-looking Celeste.

As much as I didn’t want it to, Maggie’s shrewd assessment burgeoned a bubble of hope in my chest. We might only be starting high school, making it way too early for us to fall in love, but sometimes you just know. High school sweethearts stayed together all the time. And one thing was for certain—I was in this for the long haul.

With that happy thought in mind, I clasped Celeste’s fingers through mine again, beaming at her. For my whole life, I vowed to myself.

CHAPTER 10

HEARTACHE AND HOPE GO HAND IN HAND

CELESTE

Wesley looked hot with his dark tan skin and tight polo shirt. He had grown bigger over the summer, not in height, but in width. His shoulders were broader and his arms looked more muscular in a way that made me do a double take. I could tell he noticed the changes in my body right away (thank you, puberty, for FINALLY showing up!) and it would be a lie to say it didn’t make me feel a bit full of myself. I liked the way his eyes roamed my body, the smolder he started to give me when I caught him staring…it was a heady rush to know that I had the power to bring out that reaction in him.

But then when he kissed me, it was like a rocket shot me straight to the stars. My body was no longer my own, fully prepared to do something reckless and crazy, because nothing could be reckless or crazy with Wesley Madden. Our bodies fit together like Legos, perfectly aligned and contoured to one another, and it made me want to shout to everyone in the River’s Run town square: WESLEY LIKES ME BACK!

Had I not remembered Mama’s warnings to always keep it slow with boys, things might have really escalated in there. I was aware how much his body wanted me since it definitely wasn’t a tv remote pressing against his jeans, but we still needed to take things down a notch. Stepping away from him felt like backing away from a hot grill; there was so much cold air all at once that you felt even more cautious of the flames in front of you.

I meant it when I said Hillary wouldn’t like it. She made no secret out of her intent to pursue him once he returned to River’s Run, and had pestered me with questions all summer long. Crossing the line from best friend to romantic relationship sounded terrific in theory, but in actuality, wasn’t practical. Hillary tended to always get her way, and Mama had never advised me on what to do about that.

Now, though, with his hand laced through mine on the way to The Comfy Cushion, it was hard to remember why Mama warned me off boys in the first place. I knew my bubble of happiness was about to burst when we arrived at the restaurant and Hillary set her eyes on Wesley again, but it didn’t seem right to let the opportunity pass by. Knowing what it felt like to hold Wes’ hand in mine was something she didn’t deserve to take from me.

As we got nearer, my anxiety began to grow and I dropped his hand before he could feel the sweat gathering on my palms. I stopped a few feet away and turned to face him, my back to The Comfy Cushion.

“Desiree will probably be there because she rarely lets Daddy out of her sight,” I explained quietly, looking at the ground. Seeing his anger would only make it harder to accept something that was already crushing my soul. “Hillary usually hangs out in the corner booth with all of her friends. Jeremy might be back from football practice by now, too.”

Wesley leaned down to capture my gaze, tilting my head up once again to face him. It was just as awful as I imagined it would be, his face already contorting with anger mixed with a heavy dose of confusion. “And all of this happened in three short months? I wasn’t gone all that long, Celeste…”

I nodded, sucking in a shaky breath to stop myself from breaking down. “Daddy’s been doing a lot of weird things lately. He even let them move in already even though they aren’t married yet.”

While that probably didn’t sound like a big deal to most people, for someone as traditional as my daddy, it nearly made me choke on my breakfast when he told me a few weeks ago.

“You don’t have a guest room anymore?” Wesley asked in surprise. He had slept in that room often enough that we used to keep a drawer of pajamas for him in the dresser.

I shook my head sadly. “When Daddy let Desiree and the kids move in, he gave Jeremy your room…and Hillary took mine.” I paused knowing this part was going to make Wesley’s anger flare.

Right on cue, he choked out, “So where are you sleeping?”

“We moved all my stuff up to the tower.” I shrugged like it was no big deal, but deep down inside, it still broke my spirit to admit out loud. It shouldn’t have meant so much to me but that had been my bedroom since the day I was born. My mama and Nana had hand painted the flowers on the wall in anticipation of my arrival, and on a single Saturday, Desiree and her daughter covered up every one. The whole time I kept reminding myself that Mama said to sprinkle kindness around like confetti, and that I should be excited at the prospect of siblings, but it was hard to bear that in mind as the ugly mint green paint Hillary selected buried the reminders of my mama’s love from view.

Wesley was indignant on my behalf. He was breathing heavily, his nostrils flaring, and his hands became fists at his sides. The veins popped out on his forearms as he tried to control his temper.

“What is your dad thinking?!” he burst out angrily.

I just shrugged my shoulder before turning back to the restaurant. Wesley was immediately at my side and tried to lace his fingers through mine again, but I dropped them like I had been burned, crossing my arms across my chest. Hillary would be on the war path if she realized anything had developed between Wesley and me, and if the past summer had been any indication, Desiree always took her daughter’s side. As much as I loved Wesley, I didn’t want his homecoming to be ruined with a fight.

Just as I predicted, Hillary and her followers were all huddled in a corner booth, jabbering loudly over one another and filming videos on their cell phones. Several of her friends were already high school sophomores and juniors who flocked to Hillary’s side because of her beauty pageant titles. She was Queen Bee, and The Comfy Cushion now served as her royal court.

Hillary’s eyes lit up the moment Wesley stepped through the door behind me.

“Wesley Madden, is that you?!” She pushed two of her friends out of the booth so she could rush over to him and throw her arms around him, a fake smile frozen on her face.

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