Page 77 of Still Love You

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Silas

I decided to take a night off from Willow. One, because I have to help Trent. Two, because I want to see if she misses me when I'm not around. And three, because I'm getting too attached to her.

It's only been a couple weeks and I'm already even more in love with her than I was two years ago. If this continues, Trent's prediction will come true. Willow will destroy me. Again.

She destroyed me when she broke up with me after our brief engagement, but I was younger then and able to get over it, telling myself we were too young to be that serious. But this time? It'll take a lot longer to get over her, maybe because everything seems more real now that we're older. My future seems less like a dream and more like reality.

We're both still young, but we've matured a lot the past couple years. Willow has always been mature for her age, but I wasn't until I went overseas. Living on my own, being in different parts of the world, and seeing people in extreme poverty, matured me to the point that I now feel much older than 20. So now, more than ever, I could see myself marrying Willow. But that's not what she wants, or if it is, she won't let herself believe it.

So where does that leave me? What do I do? Slow things down with her? Tell her we can only be friends? Do I date other girls and give up on Willow?

The truth is I don't want to do any of those things. What I want is to keep this going. To keep spending time with her. To keep flirting with her. Taking her out. Kissing her. Pretending like there's no end to this, even though I know there is.

I wish Willow could see what a great thing she and I have together. We're best friends. We make each other laugh. We understand each other. We can read each other and know when something's wrong. We know how to cheer each other up. And we have a chemistry that I know we'll never have with anyone else.

Yet Willow refuses to see all that. Her focus is all on school and her future career. I admire her ambition but there's more to life than that.

"You want to hang out after we unload?" Trent asks as we put the last two coolers in the back of my truck.

We already loaded the folding chairs and two long foldout tables. His mom gave us plastic tablecloths, which Trent told her he'd never use, but she insisted we take them. She also gave us three large plastic containers of homemade cookies and brownies. His mom is really nice but she treats us like we're kids. She even gave us a giant container of powdered lemonade.

This is not a cookies and lemonade type of party. It's more like burgers, beer, and hard liquor. I'm sure Trent's high school football friends will be there, along with as many hot girls as he can convince to come over.

"I need to study later, but yeah, I can hang out for a while." I go around and get in the truck.

"What do you want to eat?" Trent asks as we're driving away from his parents' house. "It's on me since I made you do this."

"Let's go to the barbecue place."

"Sounds good, but we're taking it home. I'm not eating there." He says that because the place is a dive, but they have the best barbecue in town.

"If you're buying, I'm getting ribs."

"I just got paid so let's get the works. Ribs, cornbread, beans. I got beer at the house."

"You don't have a girl lined up for tonight?"

"I need a break. I'll hook up with someone tomorrow at the party."

"What happened to Tana?"

"I told her I was engaged."

I laugh. "And she believed you?"

"Yeah, she was pissed. But at least she won't be calling me anymore. Her friend called me last night."

"Now Tess wants to go out with you? Didn't Tana tell her about your supposed engagement?"

"She wasn't calling about me. She was calling about you. She asked for your number."

"You didn't give it to her, did you?"

"No. But she knows where you live. She might stop by."

"Why didn't you remind her that I have a girlfriend?"

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