Page 36 of I Choose You

I scoff. Trent doesn’t deserve Nelly if he’s going to make her feel insecure about her own body, especially because she’s not someone who is normally insecure. She loves the skin she’s in. The fact she’s taking what he said to heart shows she really likes him.

“Is he blind?”

She shrugs, and we move up a place in line. I stay true to my banana split when we get to the order window. Nelly orders a small vanilla cone, then we make it over to a bench to sit. “Men are jerks. You don’t need to watch your calories, Nelly. My God, you don’t even need to be jogging.” I dunk my spoon into the vanilla scoop of my banana split and shovel it into my mouth. “Don’t let him get into your head.”

“I really like him, Mackenzie. I want to be what he wants.”

I weave my arm through hers. “If you need to change who you are for someone to love you, then they’re not your person, Nel. The way you were before all this, that’s who you are. He should accept that.”

“Yeah,” she exhales while contemplating the heaviness of my words. “I guess you’re right. Wow, this feels weird,” a quick laugh comes from her, “I’m usually the one offering you advice.”

“Try talking to him. Maybe it’s a miscommunication.” Sighing, I add, “I need you. Something tells me this won’t be the last time I’ll be here in the next few weeks.”

She clicks her vanilla cone against my spoon, and we watch the sunset together. It’s cold, so we scoot as close as possible to share the warmth. She tells me all about Trent’s respectable qualities. I listen to see what she sees in the guy and hope for the sake of her heart that I’m correct—that he didn’t mean what he said, and it was an over-exaggeration. Then, in a moment of vulnerability, I tell her about what’s been going on at home.

“I am legitimately,” I sigh, “crushing on Mason.”

She almost chokes on a lick of half-melted ice cream. “You what?” She snaps her head in my direction, then pauses for a beat, tilting her head to the side. “Actually, you know what, it’s not that surprising.”

I chew on a creamy bite of banana. “That’s bad, Nel, right? So, so bad. And he’s leaving soon.” I groan. “What the hell am I going to do?”

She resituates her back into the bench. “No wonder you called me to come here. You should just tell him. Imagine the mind-blowing sex you two could be having. You know,” she pauses for a beat, “I bet he’s amazing in the sack. Hah! Get it? Sacks is good in the sack.”

My belly tightens at the thought of Mason’s mouth being on mine as she giggles. Around another bite of my banana split, I say, “You think so?”

“Hell yeah!” Nelly nearly shouts. “When was the last time he was with someone? It’s been a long time, right? Man…I bet he’s dying to get his hands on your sexy ass.”

I look over. “Shut up. He doesn’t feel that way.” Does he?

The corner of her mouth lifts in a smirk. “Oh, but I bet he does.” She bites into her waffle cone. “What if he has secretly had a thing for you all this time and has been waiting for you to make the first move? How fucking hot would that be? I bet your first time having sex with him will be phenomenal.”

“Stop talking about it like that,” I say. “No one is having sex with him.”

“Well, obviously. You have to tell him you have a crush on him first. Or…you could jump his bones.” She smirks. “I bet he wouldn’t say no if you offered.”

“You’re supposed to be helping me, not making matters worse.”

She snickers. “Why? You’re thinking about him having his way with you now, aren’t you? Laying you out, spreading you open, kissing his way up your thighs, and ravaging your pu—”

“Nelly!” I scold in half a whisper, my face flushing from the image of Mason’s mouth between my legs. “Stop.”

The thought of Mason doing any of those things is unimaginable, but what if Nelly is right? What if Mason had feelings for me this whole time, and I’ve just…never noticed? No. There’s no way. We’ve been friends for a decade and a half. If he cared for me in that way, he would have told me.

I would have noticed.

17

Mason

“I don’t care what you say. It’s happening.” Luke’s voice fades when he leaves the living area to head for his room. Truth is, I’m surprised he’s here with how much time he spends with Layla. The two are attached at the damn hip, so I shuffled back a step or two when he brought up having a night in and getting booze to go with it.

The front door swings open, and Mackenzie comes in as I follow him down the narrow hall of the house.

“I need to sort through the stuff in the basement to see what I need to take with me,” I tell Luke. Aside from my bedroom, it’s the only other place in the house that may have a few of my belongings. I forgot about it until this past week, and with less than five weeks left, I need to get it done while I have the free time. “You’re going to have to rely on Layla to keep you company.”

“Fuck that,” he scoffs. “My twin brother will be out of here in a few weeks. I will hogtie your ass to the couch if I have to.”

My shoulder leans against his doorjamb, and I cross my arms. His persistence is infuriating. If he had brought this up a few weeks ago, I would have been okay with it. However, the stresses of the move and promotion are yapping at me, reminding me of the little time I have left to wrap up my responsibilities in Quaint.

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