Page 79 of Inseverable (Carolina Beach)

He laughs, I assume because he nicknamed the latter. “You don’t get it, Trin,” he says, shaking his head like I’m the crazy one here. “You never have.”

I stand and blow my whistle. “Sir, back away from the ropes.The ropes! Thank you!” I say when he releases the buoy. I sit back down. “Okay. What exactly don’t I get?” I ask Hale.

He considers me and chuckles. “That you could’ve had any guy you wanted. You just never took any of us up on our offers.”

The whistle falls away from my hand, smacking me in the chest. “What are you talking about?”

“Me, Sean, Mason?hell, anyone of the boys you grew up with. Not a single one of us hasn’t crushed on you at least one time since we’ve known you.”

My mouth is so wide open, it’s a wonder a bee hasn’t flown in. “What? Wait. You liked me? As inlikedme?”

Hale just laughs. “Like I said, me along with many others.”

I think he’s blowing smoke, because none of what he’s saying makes sense. “If that’s true, how come none of you ever acted on it?”

“We all did. Every last one of us,” he says. “Remember that time Sean took you to your first keg party?”

This time, I’m the one laughing. “Oh, you mean the one in that field? The one where the cops showed up and we had to climb that tree and hide—the one where he was so wasted he threw up in my hair when we were trying to find our way back to your car? You’re right. I should have realized that boy wanted me bad.”

Hale cracks up. “I forgot about that part, seeing how Mason and Becca were dragging my ass following my first beer bong. But yeah. To this day Sean considers it your first date.”

“Are you serious?” I ask, throwing back my head and laughing.

“And don’t forget Mason. When you and he went to Becca’s sweet sixteen together. He really like you. Talked about you all the time.”

I take a sip of my water as the breeze dies down. “If that’s so, how come I caught him making out with Becca’s cousin at the same party? I even ended up driving the two of them home so they could finish making out in the back seat.”

He smirks. “Because along with being smart, funny, and pretty, one of your super powers includes the ability to kill a boner in a single bound.”

I gasp. “Mind explaining yourself, sir?”

“Sean threw up on you that night because he drank himself stupid, all upset because his folks were splitting up. You told him not to worry. That he was your dear friend and always would be. Trin, just so you know, no horny teen hot for a girl, wants her to call him a ‘dear friend’. ‘Dear friends’ don’t get to feel up the girl they’re hot for much less get laid.”

“He was upset,” I remind him. “I was trying to make him feel better.”

“Like you were trying to make Mason feel better?” he asks, smiling. “He liked you, and you shoved him into another girl’s arms.”

“Only because Becca’s cousin couldn’t pry her eyes off him,” I point out. “He should have said something.”

“What did you expect him to say, Trin? You took his hand, brought him over to her so they could dance together. Which is why he ended up kissing her at the end of the night, and not you.”

I’ll admit, as flattered as I am, this conversation is also freaking me out. I never knew any of this.Never. “I thought he liked her.”

“He did,” Hale admits. “But he liked you more. Just like I did.”

I don’t think he can see my stare soften, not with how dark my sunglasses are. If he could, he’d sense my heart, and how it warms then. He, Mason, and Sean. What can I say? They’ve always been my family.

“Remember how we went to prom together?”

“Of course I do,” I answer, quietly.

“Remember how we danced all night, laughed, raised hell, had a good time?” Again I nod. “I’m thinking it looks good for me, and that I’m finally going to get to kiss you—and hey, it’s prom night, so maybe a little more than that.”

I gasp. “Hale!”

He keeps his grin despite my dumbfounded response. “But then what do you do the moment we get back in the limo? You throw your arms around me and tell me that you love me like a brother. Now, nothing kills a boner like hearing that girl you adore thinks of you as her brother.”

“I’m sorry,” I say, barely able to speak. “I honestly never knew.”

---