Page 58 of The Dating Pact

I frantically waved my hands. “Say it louder. I don’t think Sebastian heard you.”

Dylan took the opportunity to slug Nate in the arm.

“I don’t want anyone to know,” I explained in a near whisper, and they leaned in, creating our cone of silence. “It’s…not… It just happened.”

“What do you mean, it just happened?” Liam asked, and I rolled my eyes.

“You, of all people, need a biology lesson?”

“No, but sex doesn’t just happen. It takes a little bit of forethought.”

“Yeah.” Dylan huffed out a gruff laugh. “Since when are you so spontaneous?”

I pulled at my T-shirt, suddenly uncomfortable. “Since, I don’t know… Since we got high and had sex.”

Nate crossed his arms. “When? Where?”

“It started a few weeks ago.”

“It started a few weeks ago!” he whisper-shouted. “And you didn’t tell us?”

“It’s none of your business.”

“You’re my business,” Nate declared, index finger angrily aimed at the ground like he was claiming me as his land. “You’re my best friend.” Then he waved that finger across Dylan, Liam, and me. “You motherfuckers are all my business. You hurt, I hurt. You’re happy, I’m happy.”

Dylan actually nodded and tossed his arm around Nate. “That’s really sweet, man.”

“Yeah,” Nate went on, still miffed, “and it doesn’t feel so nice when something really great happens to you, and you keep us out of the loop.”

“Nothing happened,” I said, hands up. “There was nothing to tell.”

Liam eyed me. “That really true?”

“You’re cutting your hair and losing weight and wearing your good shorts for no reason?” Nate added, and I spared my light-blue dress shorts a glance. I didn’t consciously do any of those things because of Brooke, but…

“It’s not a big deal,” I said, and my friends stared blandly at me, waiting for an explanation about my obvious lie. I sighed. “We were hanging out the night of my birthday, and we decided we were each going to start dating. We set up profiles together and sort of agreed to help each other.”

“With sex?” Dylan guessed.

I scrubbed my fingers through my hair, wicking away the sweat at my temples. “She went on a date with a shit guy, and I was freaking out about this girl I was talking to. We got high, and one thing led to another and…”

“So it was only one time?” Liam asked around a sip of beer.

I shook my head.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell us.” Nate backhanded my bicep. “So, what? You’re dating now?”

I shook my head again.

“Just fucking,” Nate supplied.

“It’s…” I trailed off, not knowing how to defend myself. If I even could. Brooke and I were not just fucking. We were not just anything. And the fact that I hadn’t realized it—until this exact moment—made me ill.

We’d agreed to this stupid dating pact because she wanted to find her happily ever after, but by constantly asking for her attention, I had hindered her journey. I couldn’t do that to her.

She was my friend.

My best friend.

---