Page 66 of The Facade

“So I’m guessing that Scarlett is the one who wants to just be friends?” I asked, gazing at his profile in the moonlight.

His green eyes flickered to mine briefly. “It’s a little more complicated than that. But yeah, we wouldn’t be like this if it was up to me.”

We made it to the dorms, and he opened the door so I could walk in. I said, “For what it’s worth, I hope things work out with you and Scarlett.”

“Me too.” He shrugged. “Someday.”

Scarlett and Mack’s laughter carried down the hall again, catching both Hunter’s and my attention.

“Just so you know,” Hunter said, meeting my gaze. “I don’t think we have anything to worry about with them.”

“You think I was worried?” I asked again, wondering how he could think I had feelings for Mack when I’d just barely started noticing things myself during the past twenty-four hours.

“I’m just saying.” He held his hands up at his sides.

“Well, I never said I liked him,” I said, probably feeling the need to reassure myself more than him. “I’m just getting over my crush on someone else, actually.”

“Okay.” He chuckled. “But as your friend, I just want you to know that even though Mack always teases Carter about taking you out because he liked getting a rise out of him, I’ve always wondered if there was something more to it.”

My heart beat faster at his words. “W-what makes you say that?”

Had Mack said something to Hunter? Did Hunter know about our kiss?

“He hasn’t said anything to me,” Hunter hurried to say, as if worried he may have just led me on. “But I don’t know. You used to like him back in the day, right? It wouldn’t be the craziest thing, would it?”

I’d definitely heard of crazier things, I guess. And we did have the friendship thing down.

I’d never had a boyfriend before—never been on an actual date, really. But I was pretty sure friendship was a good foundation for a relationship to start on. Which we had.

Chemistry was also important—guessing from that kiss and the sparks I’d felt when we danced tonight, we probably had it, too.

The only other thing I could think of as essential for a relationship to work out was for the couple to actually want to be together. And I was starting to think that I wasn’t too opposed to the idea—that there probably had always been a little part of me holding out for the possibility of something with the guy who had stolen my middle-school heart.

I just didn’t know how Mack felt. But maybe if we did sit close as we watched the movie together, maybe I’d have a little more insight after that.

When we madeit to the common room, I had to go to the bathroom first, and when I came back to find a seat, I was disappointed to find that Nash and Elyse were already seated on the couch beside Mack.

So much for his promise to keep me safe during the scary parts.

I grabbed a bowl of popcorn and decided to sit in the empty seat next to Ava while Scarlett turned down the lights and started the movie.

“Have you seen this one before?” Ava whispered to me as we watched a lady climb out of the shower with a towel wrapped around her body, suspenseful violin music playing in the background.

“No.” I shook my head. “Have you?”

“It’s one of my favorites.” A slow smile lifted her lips. “It gave me nightmares for a month the first time I watched it.”

Oh, yay…

The lady on the TV screen started brushing her teeth with one hand while she reached out the other to wipe the fog off the mirror. The music got more intense as her reflection became clearer, and just as a loud crescendo of violins screeched, a man wearing a dark hoodie suddenly appeared behind her in the mirror’s reflection with a bloody knife in his hand.

I jumped in my seat and let out a tiny scream as the camera zoomed in on the guy’s hooded face. And when the lady let out a screeching yell that made my blood curdle, I knew that there was no way I was going to make it through another two hours of this and still hope to get any sleep over the next month.

So when the lady turned around and the guy was no longer behind her—as if she’d simply imagined his reflection in the mirror, I took my popcorn bowl and slipped off the couch.

“You’re leaving?” Ava asked with a frown on her face. “Already?”

I nodded. “I don’t do well with scary movies.” Then looking at Carter who she was cuddled up next to, I said, “I’ll see you at home.”

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