Page 24 of The Confidant
But we’d been so naive—so delusional to think that we could start steady dating while at school and keep it from my dad who lived an hour away.
If I could go back in time and tell myself that our fling would only last three weeks and it was better not to even start it, would I?
It would certainly make watching him talk to other girls easier. Make it easier for me to go out with other guys.
But those three weeks were the happiest weeks of my life, so even though I knew how it ended, I still wouldn’t go back and give it up.
And things are fine now.
Mostly.
At least we’d managed to still be friends…
“What are you thinking about?” Hunter’s question broke me from my memories, his pinky tracing lines across the veins in the back of my hand.
I knew I should probably make something up—to keep the past back where it was supposed to be. But as the chills raced up my arm from his soft caress, I found myself saying, “I was just thinking about the night I tried to do that best-friend challenge.”
“You were?” He gulped, his voice more froggy than usual.
I nodded.
He studied me for a moment, his eyes darting back and forth between mine like he was searching for something. He must have found whatever he was looking for, because he cleared his throat and said, “Do you think about that night very often?”
I looked down at our hands, to where our fingers were now brushing lightly against each other. I wanted so badly to curl my fingers with his.
When I lifted my gaze to look at him again, there was a hunger in his eyes that made my face burn and my stomach twist in knots.
I think about that night every single time I look at you.
But before I could actually say it out loud, Nash walked into the house with his new fan club of freshman girls. As they all giggled at something Nash said and their voices grew closer, I knew I needed to step away from Hunter before we could draw any attention.
You never knew who might be watching.
I held my breath as I waited for someone to ask us what we were doing standing so close together when we were supposed to be just friends, but instead of coming into the kitchen, Nash and his posse walked down the hall toward the pool.
Once it was quiet again, Hunter cleared his throat and said, “We should probably get back to the party.”
Even though going back to the party with everyone was the last thing I wanted to do, I nodded and said, “You’re probably right.”
8
HUNTER
“Heading out already?”my roommate Asher rolled over on his bed to watch me as I slipped my coat over my shoulders Sunday morning.
I typically liked to sleep in on the weekends because it was the only time I didn’t need an alarm, but my mind was alert and ready to go at seven fifteen, so I figured I might as well get a jump start on my plans for the morning—AKA working onThe Confidant’s column for next Sunday.
“I’m just headed to The Brew,” I told him as I reached for my backpack. “Want me to grab you something on my way back?”
“Nah, I’m good,” Asher said with a yawn. “I’ll just grab something from the great hall when I’m ready to actually be awake.”
“Sounds good,” I said. “Just get back to dreaming about all the scholarship offers you’ll be getting after last night’s performance.”
“Will do,” he said, a sleepy smile lifting his lips as he rolled back to face the wall opposite my side of the dorm room.
After the pool party yesterday, we’d all gone to the final performance ofThe Phantom of the Opera. And even though I’d been super impressed the first two times I’d watched my friends perform the musical, they had somehow done even better last night. The cast had been so in sync with each other that I wouldn’t be surprised if Nash, Elyse, Asher, and even Cambrielle were offered full-ride scholarships to performing arts schools. The evening had been flawless.
Well…theperformancehad been flawless, at least. Things had been slightly awkward for me in the audience, sitting between Scarlett and Addison.
