Page 113 of Honey Pot

“Cael,” I groaned.

“You don’t deserve anything less than going to homecoming and feeling as pretty as I know you are,” he said, and I could feel the blush creeping up my neck. “You’re worth more than a hundred girls dressed in the same cheap dress on any day, Clementine. Let me prove it to you.”

He held out his hand to me, wiggling his fingers until I pressed my palm into his.

“And I amanythingbut average,” he scoffed as he opened my door for me. “Clem,” he said before closing it.

“What?”

“Promise me something?” He asked. The sun kissed his tan cheeks, and I watched his throat bob slightly as he danced around saying what he wanted. He was painfully handsome, and sometimes it was easier to forget just how sobut, illuminated in the sun like he was today, it was clear he stood above everyone in this god-forsaken town.

However, no matter how beautiful Cael may have been, whatever he was about to ask was sure to be ridiculous. Gathering my courage, I nodded for him to continue.

“Try to stop bending yourself to fit into a box not made for you.” He squinted in the sunlight and grimaced. “I hate watching you contort to what you expect people want from you, and I know me telling you what you want to hear won't help, but try being nicer to yourself for my sake?”

I know he wanted to say more, he wanted to talk to me about Kiefer, but I couldn’t do it. It just hurt too much. There was so much wrong and there was not a single word that would quell my twisted, dark feelings. We both understood the risks of going to homecoming, and yet the look in his eye gave me confidence that maybe it could be fun.

But then the idea of coming face to face with Kiefer caught in my throat like a cotton ball.

“I’ll try,” I said but, deep down, that was a lot harder of a task than he made it sound.

CODY

Staring at the top of my bunk was going to kill me.

The ticking clock in the room only made the early morning time drag out. Clanging in my ear, I could hear the time being cut away. At some point, both Ella and Zoey had snuck in to find comfort with their people and I was jealous because it was easy for them. It was the third night I’d woken with them all surrounding me, accidentally rubbing their easy, warm love in my lonely face.

Even Dean had retreated to his own bunk.

I was cold and could feel her heart beating in the room below mine like I was lying beside her. She was calling out to me, and I was sick of being alone. I flipped back the sheets and went to find my comfort, padding down the stairs to the guest room on the main floor. I pushed the door open to find her curled up in the sheets, staring up at the moon through the unlatched window.

She had been crying, and there was nothing worse than the sight of her red, sore eyes searching the silence for answers that would never come. I didn’t say a word as I pressed against her back, and my arms wrapping around her. My fingers found the hem of her tank top and climbed up beneath it to feel her skin. Clem was so soft and warm that I couldn’t help myself but bury my face between her shoulder blades as her arms engulfed mine.

“Why are you awake?” She asked me.

“Because you are,” I whispered, kissing a line across her back. “I could hear your heart racing from upstairs.”

“That’s ridiculous,” she scoffed, but pressed into me because she couldn’t help herself. It was the comfort we had both been craving.

“Mmm,” I hummed, “maybe, but something brought me down here.”

Your thoughts are loud, Plum,I wanted to say.

They screamed for me.

“Thank you for today,” she finally said after some time. The sound of our breathing filled the space and scared away all the shadows. “He’s not usually like that.”

“What is he like?” I asked.

I knew exactly how we ended. Clementine would get on a plane tomorrow, no matter how hard I fought tonight, but if I was going to let her go, despite my heart shattering into tiny shards that littered my bloodstream, I needed to know she was taken care of.

No matter how much I hated him; if she loved him, I would swallow the shards and let them tear me apart in silence.

“He’s intelligent, loyal,” she said. “He takes care of me.”

“I never took you for a dog person,” I teased. “Does he wag his tail when you call him a good boy?” I tried to make light of it, but my chest was tight, and soon my ability to breathe would become strained.

“Oh, so funny!” She didn’t laugh, though, because she was battling all the things she wanted to say the same way I was. “He’s sturdy, Cael. He wants to build a life with me.”

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