Page 67 of Hard to Fake

Me too.

My body heats with the memory of how it felt to take those pictures, how natural every move and touch seemed.

“We kind of hooked up in his car,” I admit, and my friend claps her hands in delight.

“Tell me it was life affirming.”

“It was good,” I groan. “Until he shut it down.”

“Maybe it threw him? When I started dating Clay, he was totally closed off. But it was only because he was so used to everyone wanting things from him, expecting him to be a certain way.”

I never suspected Miles could be so committed to anything.

Anyone.

But seeing him with his grandmother proved that idea wrong.

It had me questioning how much of him is the way he acts in public and how much is real.

Blurring that line is the fact that I kissed him.

He obviously decided it was a bad idea because he pulled back, cool as anything, as if it was all part of the game.

“I’ve never had a guy look out for me the way Miles does. I’m not sure what to think of it,” I say.

“Not even Kevin?”

“Especially not Kevin,” I snort.

We start our descent down the trail, the leaves crunching under our feet.

“You never told me what happened with him,” Nova says.

I’m almost grateful for the distraction from Miles as I swipe the back of my neck, at the sweat collecting under the collar of my Lululemon top.

“He came from an important family that donated to my mom’s campaign. My mom loved that we were dating. We were an ‘it’ couple on campus, everyone going out of their way to include us. Until one of my sorority sisters was going through my room and found—well, let’s say it’s something that violated sorority rules and school ones.”

“It can’t have been that bad.” Nova frowns.

“It was.” A pang of regret rises up at the memories I’ve always tried to downplay. “My name got raked through the mud. My mom covered for me. She made a contribution to the school, and they agreed to let it slide. I talked to Kevin about it, we got on the same page, and I thought it went away.

“A week later, Kevin dumped me by text. He said I wasn’t the person he thought I was.” The back of my throat tastes bitter. “We were supposed to go to a big party that night to celebrate the end of exams. Instead, I spent the night in my room trying to reach him. He never got back to me. I didn’t see him all summer, and he avoided me the next semester.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“It was a long time ago. I was young and stupid.”

“Feelings are strange like that. Just when you think they’re in the past, you get triggered and they’re fresh.”

I wish she was wrong. “If only I could take out the part of me that lived through that. The part of me that cared so damn much.”

“Yeah, but then you wouldn’t be you, and I love you.” She hooks an arm around my shoulders. “You know, this weekend could be the perfect time to come to peace with it.”

I laugh. “Peace is a strange word to apply to college.”

My friend’s eyes glint. “Even so. It does seem like a big coincidence that everything’s coming back together at once, doesn’t it?”

* * *

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