Page 79 of The Confidant
So as long as we didn’t pull away long enough to catch our breath, a single kiss could go on for ten minutes or longer—depending on how much rationalizing we did.
By the next Friday, we abandoned the whole idea completely. I ended up pulling her onto my lap while we watched a show on her dad’s couch so we could make out through several episodes ofAll-Americanwhile her dad and stepmom were out of the house.
We probably would have kissed for several episodes more if Xander hadn’t knocked on the back door, hoping to talk to her dad.
Hmmm. That’s interesting.
We’d been making out on the couch in the family room, and from the right angle, someone from outside could have seen us there.
Was it possible Xander had been the one to tell Pastor Caldwell that we’d moved away from just being platonic friends?
That would be an interesting twist, wouldn’t it…
Her dad had found out about us steady dating just the next day, right?
I’d always kind of wondered if he had nanny cams or paid a fellow classmate to keep an eye on Scarlett and make sure she stayed “pure.”
I cringed, thinking of the word and how damaging purity culture was to me now.
But maybe there hadn’t been any hidden cameras or student spies at all. Maybe Xander was the secret mole…
Scarlett and I were only a few feet away from each other now, and when she seemed to notice me, I tried to figure out what to do.
What I wished I could do was to turn around and walk with her so we could chat while she ate her breakfast like we used to do.
But instead of doing that, we both gave each other an awkward smile and a wave.
And then she was gone.
I turned to watch her from behind, and when she was a few feet away, her shoulders seemed to sag—like she, too, had been disappointed that we’d just passed by each other.
Man, I needed to fix this. And since she’d already reached out toThe Confidant, I would try to use that to make it happen.
27
SCARLETT
I was just scrollingthroughDear Eliza’s emails on my phone, waiting for first period to begin on Monday morning, when an email notification popped up at the top of my screen from [email protected].
Wait.
What?
I clicked on the notification, which took me to the inbox of my junk mail account, and sure enough, I had a response to my email from last night.
Dear I Just Want My Best Friend Back,
I know you probably expected me to respond in my weekly column, but I didn’t feel I had enough info to give you very good advice.
First off, I’m sorry to hear things are rocky with your best friend. That must be hard to have such a big disturbance come to a relationship you’ve had for so long. You say you don’t see eye to eye on some important things? That you’re worried for him?
It’s hard to know what things you might be referring to without the details. But I’m guessing these are changes he is making and not you. He has broken the status quo that you wanted to keep, and it has you worried for him?
Have these changes brought negative things into his life? Or are you just preemptively worried about what might happen based on what you’ve heard about people in these circumstances before?
Trying to understand so I can better advise,
-The Confidant
