Page 110 of Over the Edge

“Shit.” I never planned on telling them Garrett’s and my relationship wasn’t real. I really wish I could rewind the last ten seconds. “Well, that’s how Garrett and I started.”

“How youstarted? But now?” Oliver presses.

“Yeah. We’re together.” I bite down on my smile. “Very much, very real.”

“When did that change?”

“We got together the night of the blackout and then again.” I blush and I can’t help but be excited that we’re back to talking about things like this. “We talked at the carnival and it was all good.”

“Don’t tell me that you hooked up in a classroom. There are cameras in there,” says Quinn, practical as ever.

I shake my head. “Supply closet.”

“The classier option, obviously,” Oliver asserts.

“So, the beds?” I cock my head, still waiting on an answer.

“The plan was to come here, hang out, and have a real vacation. They only had one room but, luckily, everyone elsewanted the ones with one bed. Couples destination and all that,” Quinn explains, “thus the fake dating ordeal.”

“Dating me isn’t an ordeal,” Oliver complains, shoulders sagging.

Quinn continues. “It was partly because you sent all those pictures from the berry farm and there was that picture of the two of you in it. It was supposed to be a backup plan, but Oliver, here, got a bit trigger-happy and jumped the gun before we were sure about the situation.”

“If you didn’t come to tell me about you two being together then what would the vacation be for?” I ask.

“Come on. We miss you,” Oliver says.

Quinn shrugs. “Maybe we should have told you, an ambush obviously didn’t work the way we planned, but you’ve been averaging mostly one-word responses or just sending thumbs up emojis. I took the time off months ago, just in case you wanted to invite us up to New York for your birthday.”

Everything she’s saying hits me right in the soft tissue of my heart. I pushed them away. I gave them a good excuse to let me fade. Obviously, they’ve had each other, even if platonically; still, they came after me.

“What the hell did you do the other night with the guest room?” I ask, remembering a night that was good for me, but as I’m learning theirs is a very different story.

“I slept in the bathtub. With a pillow and a blanket, it’s not that bad.” Oliver says, then rubs the back of his neck.

“Oh my gosh.” A laugh launches out of me. This is all so stupid, the lengths we’ve all gone to are so fucking ridiculous.

My phone vibrates in my pocket.

Garrett

Helping Alina with groceries. Probably will get roped into rehearsing a bit. Let me know when you get back and I’ll come over if you want me to.

Evelyn

I will and I do.

Anxiety funnels into my thoughts. Garrett and I have talked about us. We’re official. This revelation about Quinn and Oliver shouldn’t change anything. Still, that’s not a conversation I know how to have.

“That him?” Quinn asks, suggestiveness dripping from her voice.

“Yeah, he’s just checking in.”

“I don’t feel weird about it,” Oliver reassures me. “Just so you know.”

“I don’t either,” I tell him.

“Wow. You know what I love? Communication. Imagine. We could have just had this conversation a week ago and I wouldn’t have had to live through Oliver calling me food themed nicknames,” Quinn says.

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