Page 67 of Be My Compass

She crawls to her hands and knees and moves over to me. Placing a hand on my forehead, she says “Just what I thought.”

“What?” I croak.

“You’re lovesick.”

“Brenna!” I swat her hand away.

“Help me clean up this mess.” She points to the boxes.

“Help me fix this first.” I tap my chest.

“So you kissed the guy you’re in love with.” She shoves a bunch of documents together so they’re all in one height and puts them back in the box. “The chemistry was there. The kiss was great. You don’t want to ruin the friendship? Don’t. Keep calling it pretend or whatever if that makes you feel better.”

“You think so?”

“Of course not!” She scrunches her nose. “That’s immature and leaves room for misunderstanding. The best route is to be honest—”

I brighten. “If I tell him it doesn’t mean anything, he’ll believe me.”

“No, that’s not…”

“We can do whatever we want as long as we don’t admit that it matters!” I jump to my feet and jut my fist in the air. “We can always walk our way back if it gets too intense. We’re strong enough to handle a little pressure. We’re smart enough to stop before we break.”

“But—”

“Thank you, Brenna!” I dash through the door.

“Kaelyn!”

I wince. Tiptoe back. “Right. Let me help you with those.”

She huffs. “You’re fired.”

“I love you anyway.”

She bats at a curl that tumbles out of her bun and falls into her eyes. “And listen to me.” She pauses. Gives me a don’t interrupt this time look. “I don’t think you should hide your feelings from Kastle or engage in intimacy under the excuse that you’re ‘pretending’. You’ll make a bigger mess than if you’d just let it out.”

“And what happens if he says he’s not into me? What then?”

“He kissed you, didn’t he?”

“I hate to break it to you, but Kastle’s kissed a lot of girls.” To my never-ending chagrin. There was a phase where he slept with anything in a skirt, searching for… I have no idea what. I’m just glad that’s over.

“You’re different.”

“Says who?”

She blinks. “You’re crazy.”

“True. But I’m also right. Losing him is… it’s just not worth the risk.”

“Kaelyn…”

“What is all this?” I study the document in my hand, desperate to change the topic.

Brenna gives me a hard side-eye. “Research. I heard they’re trying to tear down the old Victorian farmhouse out on Rainer.”

“Finally. That place is a total eyesore.” I stack the documents in the box.

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