Page 355 of How to Kiss a Hawthorne Brother
I hold up my phone. “I did. Do you want to see? I won’t post them unless you approve.”
“Um, actually, could you just text them to me?” She takes a few backward steps. “Or have Joni text them, I mean. Since she has my number.”
Okay, then.“Sure. Are you heading out?”
“Yeah, I, um, I just remembered something I have to do at the lab this afternoon.” She taps the side of her head. “Me and my brain. Always forgetting things.”
Something tells me her brain never forgets anything, but she clearly wants to get out of here, and I won’t argue with her.
“Okay. Sure. I’ll send them over later.”Iwill send them. Not Joni. Joni’s rules about me protecting my cell number no longer apply to Audrey.
“Perfect,” Audrey says as she scrambles out of the pool. “Totally perfect.”
She’s flustered. Fleeing. Obviously uncomfortable.
Did I push things too far? Hold her too closely?
“Audrey, wait.” I swim after her, climbing out of the pool just as she reaches her towel. “Are you okay?”
She wraps her towel around her and reaches down to pick up her shoes. “Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”
I stop where I am, my hands resting on my hips, sensing that any sudden movements might make her bolt even faster. “It just…feels a little like you’re running away. Did I do something wrong?”
She starts to laugh—but not like she thinks something is funny. It’s more like she’s barely keeping it together and laughing is the only way she knows how to cope. “I’m fine,” she says, her voice too high for me to believe her. “Totally fine.”
I nod, resigning myself to letting her go. It’s the only thing Icando. “Okay. Well, thanks again for everything. I had a lot of fun.”
For a split second, whatever mask she put on when she decided to flee falls, and I see a flash of real emotion cross her face. Then she smiles tightly and disappears into the house.
I don’t follow her.
I can’t.
Because the last thing I saw flashing in her eyes was fear.
Chapter Fourteen
Flint
Joni leans on thecounter in my kitchen, my phone resting in front of her. She swipes through the photos of me and Audrey, studying each one for a quick moment before moving on. “I really think they’ll do the trick,” she says, but then she pauses on the last photo, the one I took with Audrey in my arms. “Holy cow, Flint. Has Audrey seen this yet?”
It’s only been an hour since Audrey left, and I’m still reeling. Stillprocessing.Spending an hour in the pool with her was so much more than I expected it to be. For the first time in a very long time, I forgot who I was. Forgot about Claire and the lies she’s telling. I forgot about everything except how much fun it was to be in Audrey’s company.
“She hasn’t seen them yet. Why?” I ask, though I’m only trying to buy some time. I know exactly why Joni is asking. In the last photo, I’m looking right at Audrey. And the expression on my face is less carefree and easy and moreI’d like to eat you for breakfast.
“Look at your face,” Joni says, reaching over and tapping the phone screen before she straightens and props her hands onher hips. “If she sees this photo, she’s going to know you aren’t acting.”
“Or maybe she’ll think I’m just areally goodactor.”
“Honey,” she says, turning on her mom voice. Joni isn’t quite old enough to be my mom. More like an overbearing older sister. But that doesn’t stop her from mom-ing me every chance she gets. “I really think you need to be straight with her. Tell her you like her.”
“Ican’ttell her. Asking her to fake it is already something outside her comfort zone. If she knows I’mnotfaking, she’ll back out, if only to spare my feelings.”
“So you’re just going to suffer in silence?” Joni says. “Fall more and more in love with her only to have her walk away when all this is over?”
I raise my eyebrows. “Dramatic, much? I’m not going to fall in love with her. We’ll have fun, we’ll get through the premiere, then we’ll continue as friends. This isn’t a big deal.”
Joni huffs out a laugh. “Tell that to the man in this photo.”
