Page 76 of Don't Puck His Best Friend
I stare at the board, at those wordsMAKE IT UNAVOIDABLEglaring back at me in Maddie’s aggressive handwriting. The thought of showing up at the rink, in front of his teammates, making myself vulnerable in the most public waypossible, makes me want to hide under my covers for the next decade.
But Cole’s face in the parking lot keeps flashing through my mind. The way he looked at me like he was already gone, like he’d given up on the possibility that I could choose him over my own confusion.
“Show up to his next home game,” I hear myself saying. “Something bold enough that the entire team sees it. Something he can’t misinterpret or dismiss… That’s suicide,” I add immediately, because saying it out loud makes it feel even more terrifying.
“That’s commitment,” Maddie counters, writing it on the board with a flourish.
I lean back in my chair, staring at what we’ve just planned. “It’s too far from now.”
She shakes her head. “No because in boy years, taking time to think could be a week or two, and by the next game, he should have made his choice.”
“I’m considering transferring to a school in another state. Maybe another country if he denies me.”
Maddie grins, the first genuinely happy expression she’s worn since the parking lot. “I’ll help you pack. But I don’t think you’ll need to.”
“You have way more faith in him than I do.”
“I have faith that you are going to marry this guy.”
Later that night, I lie in bed staring at the ceiling, running through every possible reaction Cole could have to whatever Plan C ends up being. Most of the scenarios in my head end badly—with him walking away, with him admitting that he can’t get over what I did, with Liam intervening. Oh God.
But underneath the fear is something sharper and more insistent. I need to fight for him before he decides I’m not worth the trouble. Because despite everything I’ve screwed up, despite the mess I’ve made with Liam, despite my own inability to make clean choices, Cole and I click. I like kissing him, I like being around him, I was so happy when he asked me to be his girlfriend. Everything with him was simple, and I want that so bad. I want the easy relationship, not the one I have to constantly battle for.
Plan C is insane. The kind of romantic gesture that only works in movies and usually ends in restraining orders in real life.
But what’s also insane? Just walking away andmoving on.
36
Ambush
Cole
“We need to talk,” I say to Liam over the phone.
“Trouble?”
“You want her?” I ask, petting Rex on the couch next to me.
“Nah, I refuse to be someone’s second choice,” Liam says.
I sigh.
“Why are you fretting over her?” he asks.
“I’m not.”
“You are,” he counters. “I’m not, but you are. Just go for it.”
“She said you made yourself an option.”
He laughs. “I did.”
“So, is it a problem if I have her and bring her around. This isn’t like freshman year, Liam.”
“You’re that serious about her?”
I scratch my face. “Before all this, I asked her to be my girlfriend.”
