Page 72 of Sincerely, Your Enemy

“Glad to hear it,” Aaron says, but it’s obvious he doesn’t mean it.

“Everybody ready for midterms?” Chance changes the subject, and I’m reminded that I amwaybehind on my studies.

I’ve been so busy with practice I haven’t had a minute to myself. I texted Lacey after she left me hanging in the shed last week, asking when we could meet up for our lesson, and she replied but kept her answers short and straight to the point. She said she’d get back to me closer to the weekend, but today’s Friday, and I haven’t heard back.

I grab my phone out of my pocket, about to text her, when I see a message from my sister.

Kelsea

Can you drive me to Sierra’s place tomorrow? We’re having a sleepover.

I grin, typing back a quick “OK” and hitting Send.

What my sister doesn’t realize is that she just handed me the perfect excuse on a golden platter.

Lacey

TJ

Be there in ten.

I droponto my bed with a heavy sigh, mentally scolding myself for not working harder to find a way out of this.

TJ texted me yesterday and told me he would be dropping off his sister around dinnertime tonight and we should take the opportunity to have one last lesson before midterms roll around. He didn’t even ask if I had plans.

I didn’t, butstill.

Maybe I should’ve told him I was hanging out with Dia and Aveena. After all, me having a life isn’tso faroutside the realm of possibilities that I couldn’t have had plans with my best friends on a Saturday night, but I figured bailing on him would be a dick move. Especially seeing as he really needs my help to prepare for the upcoming exams.

I told myself to suck it up and that, after this, I wouldn’t have to see him again until we got back from spring break, but now that he’s on his way over? My mind is racing with a million reasons why I need to slam the brakes on our littlearrangement.

Being friends with benefits with TJ seemed like a good idea and all, but it turns out that droolworthy body of his isn’t the only thing I missed this week.

We were both so busy with schoolwork and, in TJ’s case, basketball practice that we didn’t see each other at all, but I caught myself wanting to text him a few times.

To tell him when something funny happened at work. To ask him how he was doing and if he’d gotten the results of his last tests. To know if he was mad at me for abandoning him in the shed with a bad case of blue balls.

That was my first clue. It’s made me doubt whether or not this friends-with-benefits thing could actually work and if sleeping with him would bring me a lot more pain than pleasure in the long run.

I’m not trying to catch feelings for this guy. I know TJ’s type. Guys like that—guys who can get any girl they want without even trying—they can’t be trusted with a woman’s heart. I learned my lesson with Theo. I’m not putting myself through that again.

It’s decided. I’m going to tell him I can’t do it. That I got caught in the heat of the moment, and I agreed to something I wasn’t ready for.

The chime of the doorbell interrupts my spiraling, and I rise off my bed, concocting the perfect “I don’t want to sleep with you” speech in my head.

He might be disappointed, but not as much as I would’ve been if I’d allowed this thing to go further.

“She’s here,” Sierra singsongs on her way out of her bedroom, and it arouses my suspicions.

She’s been in a cheerful mood all week. I know my sister—her default mode is blasé teenager with a resting bitch face, and while I don’t mind her newfound happiness, it seems fishy.

I asked her about it, and she just said she loved her new school and the friends she was making there.

I turn the corner to see my sister flinging the door open. Sure enough, TJ and his sister are standing on the other side.

“Kelseeea!” Sierra throws herself at her new bestie with open arms.

TJ and I watch our sisters hug and exchange quick glances. We’re obviously thinking the same thing. As long as our sisters are best friends, we’re stuck seeing each other.

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