Page 14 of One Lovely Lie

I’m not sure what to say to his shock. Should I be offended that he’s so disgusted at the idea of me being a virgin? Or should I be offended that he’s never considered my sex life in general? “I—”

“Okay, Daniel. Why don’t you go first?”

God, if you’re listening, smite Ozymandias Rupert Clark, please.

I gingerly take the bottle, shooting daggers at Ozymandias who just gives me a mischievous grin. I wish the world would just swallow me up whole right now. As the bottle spins, I cringe about whom it may land on. Will it be Ozymandias, where I might just bite his tongue off if he tries to kiss me? Will it be Chris, the lanky and pimply-faced sophomore whose nose is always buried in anime?

Or maybe it will be a girl…double cringe.

I could kiss Avery; it would be platonic. Sebastian would even be good enough, a new kid I don’t know anything about.

But the universe doesn’t do me any favors. Nope. The bottle lands on Magnus fucking Black.

As deep-seated horror strikes me, Magnus looks almost smug. There’s that mischievous glint in his eyes that I usually love but is currently making me far too nervous.

“Well, the bottle has spoken, let’s go,” he says, tugging me up, and I can only shoot Ozymandias one more deadly look before I’m dragged deep into the forest.

The party has continued to rage on in the background, but the music becomes muffled the farther we get from it. Maybe this will be easy, we don’tactuallyhave to kiss. Even if it’s something I’ve been imagining since I was twelve, I know that kissing him is the worst idea ever.

If I’m this obsessed with him now, what’ll happen after we kiss? Nothing good can come of it, even though my traitorous cock perks up at the idea.

Bad dick.

Once we get to a respectfully far spot, I’m shoved against a thick tree. That mischief in Magnus’s eyes must have been some sort of cover because he lookspissed.

“Why didn’t you tell me you’re a virgin?”

“Excuse me?” I snap back, pushing him slightly away from me because what the fuck? “How is that any of your business?”

“Because everything you do is my business,” he states matter-of-factly, not hearing how horribly codependent that sounds. “We don’t keep secrets from each other. We never have.”

“Well, you never asked. I never lied. I didn’t tell you I wasn’t a virgin,” I stutter, cheeks flaming. I don’t want to talk about my sex life with the object of all my late-night, fucked-up fantasies. “Now you know. Are you happy?”

“Not in the slightest. What’s next? Now you’re going to tell me you’ve never kissed anybody.” When I don’t respond and my eyes drop to the ground, he gasps. “Nooo. Wait, Daniel. Have you never kissed before?”

“Don’t fucking laugh at me!” I shout, hitting his shoulder as he delves into a series of chuckles. “What the fuck, Mag!”

“How did I not know this?”

“Maybe because you were too busy sticking your cock in anything that moves to notice?”

To this he stands up straight, narrowing his eyes at me. “Are you slut shaming me right now? What’s wrong with having some fun?”

“No, Jesus,” I groan, rubbing my hands up and down my face. “I’m not… Are we fighting? Is that what this is?”

We haven’t fought since we were fourteen and it’s awful. I hate it, but that’s what it feels like. We seem to be bickering more and more these past few days, all over little things. We’ve gone back and forth about which movie to watch at night, whose room we’re going to hang out in, and stupid shit that doesn’t really matter.

I’m starting to think that I really need to get over him. This isn’t good for either of us because this is my fault. All my pent-up feelings are what’s causing this, I know it. If I could just make them go away, everything would be fine. I’d be able to see him with someone else and not want to explode. I wouldn’t hold any resentment or irritation that it’s not me he’s kissing and fucking.

Shit, I’m the worst best friend. He’s innocent in all of this. He has no idea, he never has, and there’s no reason I should be pissed at him for sleeping around.

I look up at him and he’s staring at me carefully, his brows slightly furrowed. There’s a beat of silence that passes between us where I’m not sure where we’ve landed at. Is he still pissed? Is he going to yell at me? Will he walk away without saying anything?

Instead, he says something that makes my breathing halt.

“I’ll kiss you.”

I let out a strangled chuckle as my heart speeds up. “A pity kiss? Really?”

---