Page 18 of Don't Puck the Wrong Brother

"I can't tell you," I finally say. "It's too embarrassing. Too awful."

"Hannah," she says firmly, "I'm your best friend. Nothing you tell me could make me think less of you. Nothing."

I stare at her, weighing my options. The secret is crushing me. Maybe sharing it would help. But the thought of saying it out loud…

"You have to swear," I whisper. "You have to swear on your firstborn child that you will never, ever tell another soul."

Lennox rolls her eyes. "I swear on my hypothetical, currently non-existent future spawn that whatever you tell me goes to the grave."

"No, I'm serious," I insist. "This isn't like the time I told you I shoplifted that lip gloss in ninth grade. This is serious. This is nuclear. You can't tell anyone. Not your sister, not Greta, not Finley, not your journal, not your therapist. No one."

She sobers, seeing the desperation in my eyes. "I swear, Hannah. Whatever it is, it's between us."

I take a deep breath, then another. "That night…the night I was supposed to…with Cade…"

"Yeah?"

"I went to his apartment like I planned. And he had texted me that he was home, so I let myself in. It was dark, and I could see someone was asleep in his bed."

Lennox nods, encouraging me to continue.

"And I––God, this is so stupid. I had this whole plan, right? The lingerie, the surprise…I was going to be all sexy and confident and finally take that step with him."

"Right."

"So I got into bed with him. And we…started…you know." I can feel my face burning with shame. "And it was good. Really good. Better than I expected, honestly. But then…" My voice cracks.

"What?" Lennox leans closer.

"It wasn't Cade," I whisper.

Her brow furrows. "What do you mean it wasn't Cade?"

"It. Wasn't. Cade." I enunciate each word, leaning in. The sound of it making me cringe.

"Then who the fuck was it?" she asks horrified.

I inhale, trying not to cry. "It was his brother. It was Sanderson."

Lennox's jaw literally drops. "What the actual fuck?"

"I didn't know!" I gasp, talking faster now, the words tumbling out. "It was dark, and he was asleep, and Cade had literally texted me that he would be home, and they look similar enough in the dark, and I just…I didn't…who checks to make sure the person in their boyfriend's bed is actually their boyfriend? Who needs to do that? What kind of situation is that? And we were, you know, doing it, and then I said Cade’s name, so he grabbed his phone and shown his light on my face, and I realized, and he realized, but it was already…we had already…" I bury my face in my hands. "It was the single most humiliating moment of my entire life."

Lennox is silent for so long that I peek through my fingers to make sure she's still breathing.

"Let me get this straight," she finally says, her voice unusually high. "You accidentally had sex with Cade's brother?"

I nod miserably.

"Because it was dark and you couldn't see his face?"

"Yes!"

"And Cade had told you he was home, but he wasn't?"

"Yes! He texted me saying to let him know when I got home, so I assumed he was there waiting for me!"

Lennox's eyes narrow. "But he wasn't. Where was he?"

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