Page 72 of Starstruck

“Hey,” He called as he reached me, shuffling the hem of hiswhite tee down, as though he were nervous. “I’ve been meaning to catch up with you since your birthday, but things have been… busy.”

Oh yeah, he was there that night.

For a split second, I feel bad that I forgot about him, about howbreathless he made me with a few words. But then the whole conversation with Tristan is on a re-run in my head and I don’t know what to think.

I shook my head as I smiled up at him. “Yeah, I feel like I might aswell move into the library with the amount of notes I’ve got to catch up on.”

“I meant to ask you about that night, you left the table lookingpretty sad, you know, when you blew out your candles?”

My breath caught in my throat. “Oh… yeah, that. I was uh… just abit overwhelmed… that’s all.”

“Is that why Tristan followed you?” I was sure his eyes faded into adarker shade of blue as he asked that.

I nodded, my eyes trained on him. “Yeah, he just came to make sureI was okay.”

“Well, I’m glad that you are.” The reflection of the sun in hisglasses shone as it pierced through the open tracery, casting a glow to the ground as he dropped his head. “And I’ve actually been waiting until I found the courage to ask you out.” His eyes were back on me. “Maybe take a walk through the city? Find a bakery, whatever you want.”

Everything that was leaving Henry’s mouth sounded so right. Itsounded like the type of thing a boy who likes a girl would ask her.

So why didn’t I trust him?

He confessed that if he started seeing you, you wouldn’t be the onlyone he’d be seeing.

The guy sat there and said he liked you but didn’t want you to bethe only girl in his life.

The prick isn’t the golden boy you’ve clearly pegged him as from themonth you’ve known him.

I couldn’t help but let Tristan’s voice take over. It made no sensefor him to lie to me, and for every reason I came up with, I only found myself berating myself for thinking he’d do that just to hurt me. We had a deal, after all. Why would someone who’s been so vulnerable with me, someone who I’ve been vulnerable with, want to put my heart at risk?

I needed more time to think about this. Think about what it meantthat a boy who made me breathless only last week was now the last thing on my mind when he was standing right in front of me.

So I looked at Henry, noting the slight reflection of myself in hisglasses as I shook my head. “Actually, I’m pretty busy for the rest of the week.”

Henry shrugged, unfazed. “How about Friday?”

“It’s the Lions game, and I’ve got so much studying to catch up on.”

“I’ll pick you up for the game.”

“Oh… um… we’ll see.”

Then, like he was tired of staying guarded, his top lip curled, and hisshoulders broadened. “Am I too late?”

I narrowed my eyes. “Too late for what?—”

“Tristan… did he beat me to it? To you?” I noted the defeat in hisvoice, like how I imagine an athlete would feel when they found out they were only in second place by a fraction of a second. Like this was what he was building himself up for, only to lose to someone else.

I didn’t know what to tell him. Everything was so blurred at themoment that I needed time to straighten out my thoughts.

But to save myself from hurting his feelings, I shook my head andrushed, “Oh, no. No, I’m just… I’m trying to get my head straight about everything, Henry.”

“So the way he’s constantly holding your hand in class, that doesn’tmean anything?”

Shit.

I couldn’t deal with this. Not right now.

I shook my head, hiked my bag higher up my shoulder and rushedout, “It’s complicated. Look I’ve got to go, we’ll catch up soon!”

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