Page 37 of Last Call Lindy Hop
She snickered. “I told you you had a crush.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
She leaned against me. “Not as straight as you thought you were, huh?”
I chuckled. “I guess not.” I sighed. “I don’t even know if it’ll work out, but it seemed he was so close to kissing me too, and… I gotta know, Amber. I’ll never forgive myself if I don’t try.”
“Ok. I’ll text Kenzie and see if she can help.”
I leaned against her. “Thank you. You’re the best.”
∞∞∞
“Hey Kenzie,” I said as I took a seat across from her at the little bistro near her work. “Thanks for meeting with me.”
She nodded. “Sure.”
We studied each other for a minute, and I wasn’t sure where to start.
“How’s Lance?” I blurted.
She sucked in a shuddering breath. “He’s… kind of a mess.”
“Oh God,” I scrubbed a hand down my face. “It’s all my fault.”
“Your fault?” she asked, seemingly confused. “How’s it your fault?”
“I nearly kissed him, and he hasn’t talked to me since.”
“Wait,” she said, frowning. “You nearly kissed him? He said that he nearly kissed you.”
“We… nearly kissed each other?”
“Oh Lance,” she sighed.
“I tried texting, over and over. But…”
“His phone ran out of battery. It was dead when I went over one day and I plugged it back in, but he asked me to turn off all notifications. I think he only even answers when it’s either his mom or I calling.”
“But… why?”
She blew out a long breath. “I think… he’s scared of getting hurt again. And seeing… well he convinced himself that you wouldn’t want to be his friend anymore, so seeing a text saying as much would have been too much. So… he didn’t look at all.”
“Lance…” My heart broke at the pain he’d put himself through. I took a deep breath. “Maybe this is asking too much, but… what happened to him? Before I met him I mean.”
She shook her head. “I think it’s better if you hear it from him.”
“You can’t give me anything?”
She thought about it, then gave a tiny nod. “Lance… well he’s always worn his emotions on his sleeve. But they run so deep. He used to trust so easily, but…”
She paused. “He was supposed to get married, just over two years ago. But that didn’t happen, and it didn’t happen in the worst way possible. It broke him, just shattered him to pieces. But worse, it destroyed his ability to trust, even himself.”
“Lance…” I whispered.
“Even being in public became hard for him. Because of how messy it all was, and he lived in a smallish town at the time. He felt like everybody knew, and had taken his ex’s side because Lance was the outsider. But he didn’t get any better, even after moving out here. Taking him to the dance was part of a last-ditch effort to get him on a path to healing.”
She paused and sniffled. “It was working too. He smiled again, and was looking for a little bit of work. It was tenuous, but I was willing to take anything if it meant that he was finally starting to heal. When I saw how close to you he was I was overjoyed. He’d opened himself up to new friends, reconnecting with people.”
