Page 137 of Stealing Sunshine

“Go see your mom. I’ll talk to Johnny,” she whispers.

Her touch doesn’t soothe me the way it always has before. Instead, it makes me feel worse. Like I’m undeserving of it.

I don’t have it in me to smile, even just to soothe her temporarily. Instead, I use my words. “Don’t let him make you feel small. You’re the furthest thing from it.”

Johnny is one of the kindest people out there, but everyone is capable of having a villain moment when they think they’re protecting someone they love.

I’m one drive away from experiencing exactly that.

Daisy presses her lips to mine in a fierce kiss that I know is meant to reassure me, but I keep it short for the very first time. It feels wrong to pull away, but the alternative is to take her back to my bedroom and lock her inside for the next few months until all of this blows over.

Despite our mutual agreement to fake date, I was the one who benefited from it. It was my parents I needed help pushing out of my business so I didn’t lose them completely and my best friend, who unknowingly exposed our secret. We lied to not only my best friends but to her family too.

The blowback for this needs to catch me before it so much asconsiders touching her. And there’s only one place to go to try and make that happen.

My parents’ house.

40

DAISY

Bryce hates short kisses.

I’ve lost count of the number of times she’s pouted about them, so having her be the one to pull away quickly makes me more unsettled than everyone knowing our secret.

“What’s wrong with you, Johnny?” I ask, a bubbling pit of anger growing inside of me.

He huffs. “What’s wrong with me? What the hell is goin’ on, D? This isn’t you. You’re not a liar.”

“I’m not a liar. And I don’t appreciate you making me out to be one because you’re upset.”

“You lied to all of us. What else do you want me to make you out to be?”

“I didn’t lie to anyone because I thought it would be fun, Johnny. You know that because you knowmeand the type of person I am. We never set out to hurt anyone, especially you and the moms.”

“What you set out to do doesn’t really matter now.”

I collapse on the couch and reach for the yellow blanket, bringing it to my lap. Twisting the corner of it, I stare up at my brother, the other half of myself, and hate the way he looks back. Like I’ve disappointed him.

“I was the one who suggested the idea to Bryce. She was struggling with her mother, and since I was staying here when she definitely didn’t want a roommate, I offered to play the part of her fake girlfriend as a way of paying her back. The first time we went to Peakside together, we barely knew each other. We didn’t know how to touch one another or how to make a stranger believe us, let alone those closest to us.”

With stiff limbs, Johnny sits beside me. I keep speaking.

“Bryce isn’t who I thought she was months ago. I should have known there was more to her than what I’d previously seen, considering how many of you love her so much, but witnessing it firsthand and having her show me her heart, it was hard not to fall for her.

“The more we got to know each other, the easier it was to see how amazing she is behind the masks she wears. Things happened quickly, and before I knew it, our touches weren’t fake, and neither was the yearning I felt toward her. At the barbecue, I realized that I wanted her to be mine. I didn’t want to only kiss in public or when we felt the need to put on an act. Things stopped being fake after that day, and I think we both were just hoping we could forget that’s how it ever started. It doesn’t matter if we were only pretending before because now, it’s serious. The only person who will be punished for what we chose to do at the beginning of our relationship is Bryce. I’m grateful for the push it gave us because I don’t think we would have been here otherwise, but her mother will never let this go. Even if we only lied to her for a few weeks.”

“Daisy,” my brother says on a sigh. He shifts, opening his posture and stretching an arm along the back of the couch behind me. “Maybe you just got confused in the role you were playing.”

I fist the blanket, glaring at him and his stupid, pitiful frown. “Are you sure you just didn’t think Aurora was so beautiful the first time you saw her that the next time you did, you gotconfused by your feelings and are actually just attracted to her physically?”

He recoils, jaw pulsing. “Touché.”

“I know myself well enough not to mistake what love feels like. Alluding otherwise when you’ve only been around us a couple of times hurts me.”

Scrubbing his hand down his face, he mutters, “I’m sorry. I just feel blindsided. You’re not just my sister, Daisy, you’re my goddamn twin. If there was anyone who you should have trusted to tell about this, it’s me.”

“I don’t say this to be mean, but I didn’t trust without a doubt that you wouldn’t let it slip to someone. You would have had to keep it a secret from Rory, and I didn’t want to put you in that position.”

---