Page 53 of Don't Love the Boy Next Door
“Why couldn’t you use your real name?”
He sighs. “Are you kidding me? Phoenix hated me. She never would have accepted my help. But now…” He swallows. “Now things are looking good between us.”
“You mean online.”
He shakes his head. “I mean in real life. I think she’s starting to warm up to me.”
“That’s great.”
He nods slowly. “But if I tell her I’m Liam, she’ll hate me again.”
He’s right. There’s a high chance Phoenix would never forgive him. “But Ethan, you can’t keep lying to her.”
“I know. I tried to put an end to Liam last night, but I couldn’t. She kept asking me to game and I couldn’t refuse her. If Liam vanishes, I’m pretty sure she’ll be crushed. She called me her best online friend yesterday…”
I just gape at him. “Do you realize how insane this is?”
He throws his hands up. “Of course I do! But I don’t know what to do, bro. I’m seriously torn here.”
I stand and head over to him, placing my hand on his shoulder. “You know what you need to do. Even if it hurts her, you have to tell her the truth. You’ll only hurt her more the deeper you fall into this lie.”
He sighs. “She’ll hate me.”
“Maybe, but it’s not right to lie. You always do the right thing, man. Do the right thing now, too.”
He doesn’t say anything as he thinks it over.
“You’re right,” he says after a few minutes. “Phoenix deserves to know the truth. If I keep this from her, then I really am a jerk.”
“It’ll be okay, Ethan,” I assure him.
He doesn’t look so sure. But he seems to shove that aside as if he doesn’t want to talk about it anymore, and turns to me. “Why did you even come here?”
I flop back down on the bed and tell him about the concert.
A small smile spreads on his face. “That’s great, man.”
I return the smile. “This concert could open many doors for us.”
He nods, forcing himself to be excited, but he still looks torn up about Phoenix. He stares at the screen, where she’s still chatting to him, demanding to know where he disappeared to.
On my way out the door, I rest my hand on his arm again. His muscles are tense and wound up. I reassure him it’ll be okay, but I don’t think it’s helping much.
He gets to his feet and marches to the door, his fists at his sides. “I’m going to the basement. Need to work out.”
Chapter Eighteen
Phoenix
That’s weird. Liam and I were having an awesome time gaming and he just vanished. Okay, we were pretty much creamed in that last match, but it was fun. I wonder if maybe he wasn’t having a good time? Is he the type of person who hates losing and is throwing a fit or something?
Or is he maybe upset with me? Blaming me for the loss?
I don’t know him well at all, but he doesn’t seem like the type to let a silly game bother him.
Or…is he upset that I blamed him? But I was teasing him. Crap. Did I mess up?
I’m staring at his name for who knows how long, before he suddenly goes offline. Um…what the heck? Did he just ditch me?
