Page 91 of Change My Mind
I wanted to be offended. Iwasthe smartest of us all.
Academically.
Outside of that, I was apparently a fucking idiot. And had been for a while.
“So, you’re not dating?” I asked slowly. I needed to be one hundred per cent sure I wasn’t about to step on anyone’s toes.
Steffy smirked. “Adrienne, I can confidently say that I am not the Henry he wants.”
Hope bloomed in my veins. “And you haven’t seen him?”
“He’s gone,” Clara answered my question as she approached, grabbing a slice of caterpillar cake and picking at the chocolate icing. Steffy slipped off, not wanting to get between the two of us.
“Gone where?” I snapped.
“He’s safe and will be fine. We need to talk. Get Rachel, we’re going home.”
I recoiled. “What does Rachel have to do with anything?”
“She seemed confused when I mentioned we were all going to Becky’s for a post-date debrief. I didn’t give it a second thought because I was also confused when you told me you were going on a date, but now I think she was confused for a different reason. So, we are going to talk it out, and I find that nothing keeps you honest quite like the person who clearly knows your secrets. Especially when that person is Rachel Holloway.” Clara had that tone she only got when she meant business.
In another life, she would have killed it as a lawyer.
I nodded once and went to find our Megara.
The table in my parents’kitchen had seen its fair share of shit over the years. Heated debates, outright arguments, lots of tears, the most competitive side of everyone we knew, and countless family dinners.
It was the cornerstone in our family.
And it was where we ended up once we had changed out of our fancy dress, cleaned our faces, and put PJs on, because despite none of us living in this house full time, Mum andDad always made sure there was a wardrobe full of clothes that any of us could wear.
Clara had taken several slices of Victoria Sponge from the party, and we were sitting in silence, breaking pieces off.
Rachel was the first one to speak. “Addie and Eli have been friends with benefits.”
I kicked her under the table.
Clara’s eyes widened before they narrowed. “I knew I saw you both coming from behind that curtain at your party. Jesse told me that I was making it up. Fuck, did you tell Jesse?” She sounded hurt.
I dropped my head down onto the table and groaned.
“I didn’t tell Jesse.” My voice was muffled against the wood.
“But you told Rachel?” Clara sounded less hurt by the idea of that.
I raised my head. “No, not technically. I told her one thing, and then she inferred something else and wasn’t wrong. And Eli and I agreed not to tell anyone else because other people would have opinions, and we didn’t need those.”
“What makes you think I would have had an opinion on this?”
I scoffed, a harsh guttural noise. “Because you’re my older sister. But sure, let’s pretend you’re judgement free. If I had told you three months ago that I was in a friends-with-benefits situation with the man I lived with, what would you have said?”
Her hand slapped down on the table. “This has been going on for three months?”
I shrugged. “Roughly.”
“Much like Rachel, I would have respected your decision. But I also would have told you that you were being stupid if you thought that you weren’t going to catch actual feelings.Please tell me you told her she was being stupid?” Clara turned to Rachel.
“Not quite. I didn’t really have a leg to stand on because I had my own situation to deal with. But yeah, I thought it was stupid for her to act like she didn’t actually like this one. Eli was never going to be like the others. He wasn’t a fresh slate that you could cleanly slice from your life. He was always going to be your kryptonite.”
