Page 79 of The Facade

Cambrielle

I slept in Sunday morning,not getting out of bed until eleven-thirty since my body apparently needed the sleep after such a late night. But once I was awake enough to remember all the events of the evening before, I immediately rolled over to check my phone to see if Mack had texted me.

And sure enough, when my screen lit up, there was a text waiting.

Mack:I hope you slept well. Also, in case you were wondering, I still didn’t change my mind.

A wide grin stretched across my cheeks, because I didn’t realize until that moment just how much I needed that reassurance.

How much that even though he’d said he wanted things to be different this time, different with me, there was still a part of me that worried last night would just be another on the long list of Mack’s weekend flings.

I knew the weekend still wasn’t over, and only time would tell what was in store for us, but I decided to be happy that the sun had come up and Mack was still thinking about me and wanting to continue whatever we had growing between us.

I sat up in bed and leaned against my pillows as I typed my response.

Me:I slept great. Just woke up actually.And in case you were wondering, I didn’t change my mind either.

If I needed the reassurance, I figured he might need it, too.

I was in the middle of typing a second text to ask him if he’d have time to hang out today when there was a knock on my door.

“Cambrielle?” Nash’s voice came from the other side of the door. “Are you awake yet?”

Had he been just sitting out there waiting for me to wake up and somehow heard me move or my mattress shifting?

“I just woke up,” I called from my bed.

“Mind if I come in?” he asked.

“Um…” I looked around my room, suddenly paranoid that if he came in here, he would somehow sense what I’d done last night—somehow know that part of me had changed when I’d left my bedroom in search of beginning something with Mack.

“I just want to chat with my sister for a few minutes.” He jiggled the doorknob. I couldn’t remember if I’d locked my bedroom door last night or not, so I panicked and tossed my phone beneath the pillow beside me.

In as calm a voice as I could muster, I said, “Sure, you can come in.”

He opened the door a second later, like he’d been about to open it anyway before I’d invited him in. After glancing around my room suspiciously, as if expecting to find something or someone in here with me, he stepped the rest of the way in. “Hey.”

“Hi.” I studied my brother who looked freshly showered and dressed in a sweater and jeans, like he’d already done his Sunday morning laps in the pool.

While I liked to sleep in on the morning after a late night, Nash could never seem to sleep in. No matter what time he’d gone to bed the night before, he was wide awake by seven A.M.

Nash shut the door behind him. After taking his usual seat on the chair in the corner, he said, “I just wanted to check in with you and see how you’re doing this morning.”

I bet he did. In our previous conversation, he’d all but told me that he knew better than I did about who I should or should not like.

“I’m doing good,” I said, ignoring the elephant he was trying to bring into the room.

“Yeah?” he asked, the expectant look on his face telling me he thought that I should be saying more.

But since Iwasn’tgoing to be an open book when it came to my feelings for the opposite sex for the first time in my life, I just kept my mouth shut and pretended like there was nothing more to add.

He studied me for a moment, and when I didn’t offer anything, he pressed his lips together and said, “You slept in later than usual. Did you do anything after you left the school?”

“Not really,” I said with a shrug. “Just came home and got ready for bed.”

Made out with Mack in his hot tub.

“Nothing else?” Nash narrowed his gaze.

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