Page 24 of One More Round

My face scrunches as I look back to Simon. He has noticed as well and crosses his arms. This is typical Simon, it’s a defensive tick.

“What are you guys staring at?” I question.

It seems to snap them out of … well, whatever their problem was. But instead of their typical selves, they look confused.

“What the frack, man?” Simon says with annoyance.

“You … you guys were just talking,” Link answers.

“I think I … heard laughter?” Ruby adds, unsure of herself.

Link turns to Ruby and challenges her. “No. No way. You just think you heard that, Rube.”

“No … no. I really think I heard Simon laugh.”

I let out a sigh. Simon shifts in his seat and rolls his eyes.

“What’s the problem?” Simon asks, clearly annoyed.

“You realize that you two never talk, right? Well, not to each other, and never more than like a couple words. I think we are just in shock right now,” he answers.

Worried that Simon will remember that he doesn’t like me and will go back to hating me, I sneak a peek at him.

He leans back into the couch with a smirk. “Don’t get your panties in a twist, ladies. Gia and I were just discussing current events.”

Still clearly confused, Link starts to say something, but I jump up to change the subject.

“So, should we go get something to eat? I’m gonna grab my purse.” I hurry to Ruby’s room where I dropped it when I came over.

Obviously everyone, including me, is surprised by Simon’s sudden change of heart. But I refuse to get my hopes up that things could even start to get back to normal.

Chapter Twelve

Gia

The past few weeks have been interesting. Simon and I have been getting along better.

Let me rephrase that. Simon and I haven’t been ignoring each other, and he has been rather light on the stink eye.

Dare I say we actually might flirt? Sometimes.

It gets awkward.

Mostly because we are rarely alone. And I don’t know, the group—is just that, a group of our friends that don’t know much about our past. And really, it’s hard to explain our history without explaining the one thing I haven’t told anyone about: Todd.

I know Morgan will be upset when she finds out that I hid this from her. I’m fearful that she might not be able to forgive me. Even though I know she will. I wouldn’t blame her if she didn’t, though.

Every time we start to flirt, we quickly remember that we have an audience. Or we find ourselves in a room for only a few minutes before someone walks in.

Those glares he used to save only for me, I still get them from time to time. But only when he can tell I’m hiding something from Morgan and Ruby. It’s almost like he’s offended that I haven’t divulged our past to my best friends. Like maybe he thinks our past friendship isn’t worthy of that kind of “girl talk.”

When that happens, it’s like he remembers that he doesn’t like me.

Really, it's all getting a bit exhausting.

I want to be friends again with Simon.

But I have a secret hanging over my head and I’m not sure Simon will be alright with helping me keep it.

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