Page 34 of My Vows Are Sealed

I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t keep being his friend. It hurt too much. And the worst part was, he didn’t even care.

Chapter 10

Brendan

Kiss From a Rose

The godawful sound of “MMMBop” by Hanson blared from the speakers in the Charleston High gym as Heather and I walked in. Just like every year, the room had been transformed into a makeshift dance hall, with tacky streamers, balloons, and dangling stars all over the place and a gaudy disco ball hanging in the center of the room. I was about ninety-eight percent sure the dude who was standing at the punch bowl was spiking it, and there were kids all around us talking, huddled into corners like they didn’t want to be seen, and even making out right in plain sight. Basically, most people were doing everythingbutdancing.

My eyes were immediately drawn to Darla in the middle of the dance floor with her three best friends. All of the air left my lungs as I watched her just letting loose and having fun without a care in the world, probably for the first time in her entire life. Her normally-straight blonde hair had a slight wave to it as it flew around her shoulders, and I didn’t think I’d ever seen so much of her skin before. She was wearing a shiny blue knee-length dress with spaghetti straps, and the top was cut just low enough to drive me out of my mind, but high enough to leave everything to the imagination.

The desire to go pull her into my arms and tell her exactly how I felt about her was so strong I could taste it. That wasalwaysmy plan for tonight, because I couldn’t keep tap-dancing around my feelings anymore. I needed to know if there was even a snowflake’s chance in Hell for us. I figured if her dad thought we were going as a group and that I had another date, he’d let it slide, so Heather had agreed to be my cover…after telling me that she needed the stealth just as much as I did because she couldn’t risk coming here tonight with her girlfriend.

Yep.Girlfriend. Turned out I’d never had any reason to be worried about having to gently let her down, because she didn’t even bat for my team.

Except that, for some reason, all of my plans had backfired on me. Before I could even tell Darla any of this on Wednesday night, she’d started giving me the silent treatment, and I had absolutely no idea what I’d done to piss her off. I’d tried to talk to her every day since then, but every time, she just walked away, and I didn’t want to push her.

“She looks gorgeous,” Heather said, just loud enough for me to hear over the music. “She’s still not talking to you?”

I shook my head. “I just wish I knew what I did. You know? We were fine at lunch on Wednesday, but then by the time I saw her at church that night, she and Naomi were both pissed at me. And Kate and Ashton won’t tell me a damn thing.”

“They might not even know what’s going on,” she pointed out. “Darla’s always played things pretty close to the vest. I’d be willing to bet that Naomi just happened to be in the right place at the right time, and Darla needed to talk to someone. Otherwise, I don’t think she’d know anything either.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever gone this long without saying a single word to her,” I sighed. “I hate it. Like, it physically hurts. If that makes any sense.”

“You love her,” she murmured. “Of course it hurts.”

I tore my eyes away from Darla and looked at Heather, shocked.

Why had it taken someone else saying the word “love” out loud to put a label on what I felt for Darla? How had it taken me this long to realize just how deep my feelings went? Now that she’d said it out loud, it was so obvious.

“Why does that surprise you?” she asked me. “It’s been pretty damn obvious to all of us for a long time. Maybe the way you love her has changed over the years, but you’ve loved her for as long as I’ve known you.”

I nodded. There was no use in denying it. But with that realization came a lump in my throat that I had to swallow down.

“And now she hates me,” I choked out. “And I have no idea why.”

Heather gave me a hug. “It won’t last forever. Maybe she’ll talk to you tonight, now that we’re all here. Let’s go find out.”

“Don’t you need to go find Christy?” I asked her.

She chuckled. “Christy can wait for a few more minutes. This can’t.”

As the song “Kiss From a Rose” by Seal started to play, Heather tugged on my arm, encouraging me to walk onto the dance floor. We wove through all the couples who’d started to slow dance, trying to get to Darla and her friends, who of course were standing right in the middle.

Kate and Ashton saw us first, and they both flashed me a smile before turning back to each other and continuing their adorably awkward dance. I smiled as I saw Ashton steal a quick kiss from Kate, who flushed bright enough for it to be obvious, even with the mood lighting that was going on in here. The two of them had been dating for a couple of weeks, and they made a really sweet couple.

And then Darla and Naomi saw me, and something between anger and devastation flashed across Darla’s face before she turned around and rushed off the dance floor, heading toward the gym doors.

It felt like someone was stabbing me right in the heart. What had I done to hurt her? She was the absolute last person in the world I ever wanted to cause pain to.

Kate stopped dancing with Ashton and turned to look at me, narrowing her eyes a little. “Brendan, you know I like you, but what the hell did youdoto Darla?”

I shook my head and sighed. “I wish I knew so I could make it up to her.”

Naomi turned to look at me, and I’dneverseen her look so pissed in the entire time I’d known her. “Are you actually serious right now?”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, completely confused.

---