Page 28 of Our Final Encore

“What if we just…try this?”

“Trywhat?”

“Us. Together. As more than friends.” He pauses. “If you want to, I don’t even know if you want that, but I do.”

My eyes move to the floor. “I don’t want to be your rebound from Brooke.”

He chuckles under his breath and shakes his head, but I don’t see what’s funny about the subject. “Opal, Brooke was my rebound from you.”

I arch my brow and give him a quizzical look because I have no fucking clue what he means by that.

“I’ve wanted you for so long. I thought maybe if I dated someone I could make these feelings go away, because I was so scared that they would destroy our friendship.” He scrubs his hand down his face. “It sounds stupid because it is. It doesn’t make any sense, but I promise I was trying to do the right thing.”

Even though it does sound stupid, I understand where he’s coming from. This whole situation could affect our friendship, easily. Losing Alex as a friend isn’t something I’d ever want to risk. But at the same time, I’ve wished for so long that my unrequited feelings wouldn’t just go to waste.

I imagined myself pining over Alex for the rest of my life. Sure, I’d grow up, marry someone else and be happy enough, but I’d always have a thing for my best friend and wonder ‘what if?’.

“Okay.”

His brows crinkle on top of his forehead. “Okay?”

I nod my head. “We can try this,” I whisper.

His lips turn upward into a playful grin, and he moves towards me, wrapping his arms around my neck. Our lips crash together, harder than they did before. He kisses me deeper, laying me back onto the bed, my head hitting my pillow. His tongue pokes out, softly licking the seam of my lips and then invading my mouth in the sweetest way possible.

I thread my hands through his hair, desperately wanting him closer even though he’s already on top of me. My heart pounds so wildly that I’m worried its beating will wake up everyone in the house.

He pulls his head back, coming up for a breath, and then tucks the strand of hair that’s fallen in my eyes behind my ear. “I should’ve done that a long time ago. Like the day we met.”

“When we were twelve?” A sarcastic grin pulls at my lips.

“Well, maybe not.” He chuckles. “But I did think you were the prettiest girl I’d ever seen the first day I met you. That day I saw you riding your bike.”

“Really?” It’s hard to imagine anyone, especially someone like Alex, finding twelve year old me attractive.

“Yeah, of course. Look at you.” His eyes roam over my face and down my body. “You’re my dream girl, Opal.”

My face heats, turning a deep crimson, and those pesky butterflies take up residence in my stomach again.

He lays down beside me and stretches his arm out so that I can lay my head on it. “By the way, what’s going on with you and that guy?”

My eyebrow arches. “What guy?”

“From the lunch table today. Brown hair.”

“Oh, Cole. Nothing, he’s just one of Maisie’s friends,” I shrug.

“You looked pretty cozy together at the lake.” His voice sounds mostly sarcastic, but there’s still a hint of jealousy there.

“A little hypocritical don’t you think? Considering you did have a girlfriend at the time.”

He nods. “Extremely hypocritical. I had no right to feel jealous,” he pauses. “But I did anyway.”

“There’s nothing for you to be jealous of,” I whisper.

“I want all of your firsts, Opal.” He twists his body so that he’s laying on his side, and then pecks me on the lips again. “And all of your lasts.”

I glance over at him, still laying on my back. “Did you and Brooke…” my voice trails off, suddenly realizing I may not want to know the answer.

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