Page 45 of Twins For My Bestie's Brother

He gives me a look of annoyance. “Kissing me at the store the other day.”

So that’s why he’s kept his distance. “Jackson, that isn’t—I didn’t even know Will was going to show up. I promise.”

“Then why did you kiss me?” he asks.

“Because I wanted to kiss you!” I blurt.

Jackson’s brows shoot up. “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Silence falls over us again. We’re good at that.

“Would you ask me again?”

“Ask you what?”

“To go to prom.”

Jackson doesn’t reply.

“I know there is no prom. I know we’re not teenagers anymore. But would you ask me again even though I’m scared? Even though I don’t know if I’m good for anyone? Even though I just got out of a relationship, and I’m scared to rush anything because I’m afraid I lost myself, and I won’t ever find myself again? “

He remains silent.

“Because ever since the reunion I . . . I’ve been kidding myself every time I think of you. Pretending like it doesn’t mean something, when the truth is you have me feeling things I’ve never felt with anyone. Acting like I’ll be okay once it all ends.” My eyes gaze on unshed tears in his eyes. His beautiful face. “Would you ask me on a date now?” I ask quietly.

Jackson’s forehead creases at the very center. “Don’t do this because you pity me.”

“I don’t pity you, I—I—”I want you. I reach out and grab onto his shirt pulling myself close to him. “I want the chance to say yes to you even though I’m terrified I’ll screw everything up.”

His mouth perks up at the corner. The semblance of a smile. Finally. “You won’t.”

“I might.”

Jackson lifts his hand slowly, like reaching out to pet a feral dog. He pushes some curls off my forehead and tucks thembehind my ear. “Give me the rest of the month. To not pretend with you.”

The rest of the month is a little over two weeks. “And then what?”

“Then you get to decide if you’re ready or not.”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

Jackson slides his hand down my arm to my own hand pressed against his chest. “That’s a hurt I can stomach. But I can’t do it the way we promised. We do it my way. Or not at all.”

My lips curl into a smile. “I can do it your way.”

He nods. “Okay.”

I nod too. “Okay.” A simple word for an agreement that means so much.

We kiss on the threshold. Half under the cover of night, half welcomed by the glow inside. His lips are warm. I’ve missed them. Missedhim.And though the kiss is chaste, it blazes through my body. I can choose to walk away, or I can choose to take it further. But there’s a fire inside me that I can’t put out on my own. If I go home now, I will be dooming myself to a sleepless night of wondering what could have been.

Andfuck‘what could have been.’ The story of Jackson and Lily has been based on ‘what could have been.’

I want whatis.

“Can I come inside?”

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