Page 71 of The Love Trick

“Well, it changed things for me.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure you hate me now.” My voice comes out dry.

This is not going well. Tonight was supposed to be a reset. It was supposed to save our friendship, and now I feel further away from her than ever.

I’m such an idiot. This is exactly why I can’t do relationships.

“I don’t hate you.” She grabs her water and takes a big sip. “I fell in love with you, Blaze. I had a crush on you all through college, and I thought it faded, but I think I was wrong.”

Wait, Addy’sinlove with me?

“Oh…” is all I manage to get out.

My mind is spiraling.

This is not at all how tonight was supposed to go.

I can’t tell Addy I have romantic feelings for her. What would be the point? It’s not like we can pursue them. We’ve already done enough damage as it is. And admitting my feelings won’t get us any closer to going back to the way things were before fake dating.

It would just complicate things further.

Right?

Chapter Twenty-Six

Addy

“Oh?”Myheartstartsto break. “I just told you that I have romantic feelings for you—bigones, with thelword—and you’re just going to say oh?”

He shakes his head, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. “I’m just trying to process it, Addy. It’s a lot.”

“How so? Whenyou’rethe one who broke the rules and initiated the kiss?” I throw my hands up, my emotions swirling in my chest. “Friends don’t just kiss each other fornoreason. That’s ridiculous.”

“I just…” His voice trails off, almost too quiet for me to make out. “You don’t get it, Addy. I could be head over heels in love with you, but it wouldn’t matter. Because Idon’twant to lose our friendship.”

I can’t believe what I’m hearing. My breathing starts to pick up, rattling my chest as I process his words. “So, let me get this straight. You could bein lovewith me, but you won’t ever do anything about it? Because of ourfriendship?”

“You don’t understand,” Blaze says, his voice rushed. “You’re my family, Addy. You’re it. You’re all I have.”

My hands begin to shake as I try not to cry. “So I’m it, but I’m not worth pursuing romantically, because you don’t want to lose me?”

He nods, his visible relief grinding my nerves. “Yeah, you’re my everything, Addy, and I messed up when I broke the rules. I just … I got caught up in the moment, and it felt good to pretend like you were my girlfriend. But I can’t risk losing our friendship. I just want us to go back to the way things were.”

I fall into silence, mulling it all over before blurting out, “Did you ever have real feelings for me?” I don’t know why I feel the need to know, but I do.

Iwantto know.

Blaze’s eyes fall to his hands. “The night of your graduation party was the first time I ever told you I loved you.”

My heart jumps to my throat. “Yeah, as a friend.”

He looks up, holding my gaze. “I didn’t mean it as a friend, Addy.”

“What?!” I gasp. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Blaze leans forward, reaching for his water. “I had planned to lay out all my feelings that night. But then, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that maybe it was a bad idea.”

“Are you serious? I had the biggest crush on you. Things could’ve beensodifferent between us.”

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