Page 65 of Clueless Romeo

My sister rolled her eyes. "All right, so do you want to fix it? Is that why you're here sulking?"

"I am not sulking." I frowned, even though she was right. But it was worse. I'd broken my own heart.

"Whatever you say. Now answer the question."

Rubbing my sweaty palms over my jeans, I began. "Well, I did what you said. I told him how I felt. And you were, right…" I shot her a look when she smirked. "He was open to more too. But then Caleb walked in and caught us kissing. I sort of freaked out."

Her eyes widened as she sat up straight. "Please don't tell me you hightailed it out of there."

I winced, and she shot to her feet. "You know, for as smart as you are, you're seriously an idiot. He wasn't out and was forced to deal with it alone." She huffed in frustration, mumbling under her breath, "Hopeless. He's fucking hopeless."

I sure as hell hoped not. "Listen, I already know I screwed up, but I need to know if I can fix it?"

She glared. "By sitting on my couch talking to me instead of him? You can't honestly be that dense."

"He kicked me out," I argued.

"Rightfully so." She began to pace, arms crossed over her chest. "You know what you gotta do, right?"

"If I did, I wouldn't be here, Jaz," I drawled.

She stopped and pointed at me. "Grovel. Get on your knees and beg CJ to forgive you if that's what it takes."

I wasn't sure there was anything I wouldn't do to repair what I'd broken. "What else?"

"Pray to a higher power that he's more forgiving than I'd be." Her eyes narrowed to slits. "And then grovel some more."

"And what if he won't forgive me?" The thought alone caused my throat to ache.

Popping a hand on her hip, she shrugged. "Do you love him?"

I'd only come to that realization less than an hour ago, but the answer came easily. "Yes."

Her eyes shot wide. "Well, I suspected it. But I didn't expect you to admit it. You really are serious about this." She hummed. "I think you're a moron, and honestly, CJ should run for the hills. But since you're my brother, I'll offer an alternative. Go knock on his door. Then bang on it when he continues to ignore you. And then lay it out for him. You're already miserable, so what's it going to hurt?"

As I mulled over her words, tossing around different outcomes, Jazmine groaned. "If you lose him to someone like Nate, you only have yourself to blame."

"Don't even talk about Nate," I growled, her words a punch to the gut. "Or any other guy with CJ."

She narrowed her pale green eyes to slits. "Don't snap at me, dick. You did this. And now you need to be prepared for something like that. He's out now, and there's nothing holding him back. With him next door, you'll have to watch—"

"Stop. I get it, okay?" I flopped back against the cushion. "So, grovel and beg. That's about the gist of it."

"Uh-huh. And pray," she reminded me.

My gaze shifted to a framed painting of an abstract elephant hanging on the wall. I pictured CJ with Nate, scowling at the thought. I envisioned him out in public, living a life with someone at his side other than me. That would kill me, and I didn't want to be stuck with a pile of regret and a stack ofwhat-ifsif I didn't at least try to win him back.

CJ could have been mine. For all of three minutes, he had been. My goal had been to find him a forever. And I wanted that to be with me even though he deserved better. If he allowed me to, if he was willing to give it to me, I'd spend every day earning his love. "Okay. Should I give him time to cool off first? What do I say?"

Jazmine swiped a loose strand of purple hair from her forehead. "That's up to you. I can't speak for you, but you owe him the complete truth." She pointed her thumb over her shoulder. "Dinner is going to burn if I don't get back to it. You can stay here tonight and think about it, but if you still haven't figured it out by morning, maybe you don't deserve him anyway," Jaz offered, but her words stung. She was right and only said out loud what I'd been thinking.

The tiniest spark of hope lit up inside my chest. "I'm going to tell him everything, but if you're sure, I'll take you up on the offer to crash here tonight. I need to get my thoughts straight, so I don't screw it up even more."

She nodded in approval. "At least you're being smart about one thing today."

The swish of the sliding door opening drew my attention as Halo popped his head inside. "Is it safe to come back in?"

An idea formed in my mind. I could test my theory now about how ready I was to commit to CJ out loud for the world to judge.

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