Page 61 of Sweet Keeper

“Just let me postpone it until further notice until I’m ready to lose him.”

From the corner of my eye, I watch her make a face.

“You’re such a drama queen. Liking each other doesn’t mean that you will lose his friendship, dumbass. Fucking a friend has its benefits.”

“No, it doesn’t. One of them always ends up having feelings for the other, and then everything gets ruined because it’s not mutual.”

“Now, you’re just stubborn, but okay, have it your way.” Ash raises her hands as she scoffs. “However, be careful if you don’t have feelings for him because he’s a great guy, Bree. I don’t want you to hurt him because you’re panicking. You’ll just end up hurting yourself in the process.”

My sigh echoes in the room, and I roll over to stare at the ceiling.

“Let’s stop with the serious talks,” I plead, pursing my lips together. “Can we watch movies without boy talk?”

“And without problematic mothers,” she adds, holding out her pinky.

“Just us,” I agree, intertwining my finger with hers.

“Please tell me that we’re invited,” Karma says from the door.

“Excuse me, can we have a private conversation in this place?” I ask, rolling my eyes as she walks to the bed, jumping on the mattress to squeeze herself between us.

“My door is right there, and you guys don’t talk as quietly as you think.” She points to the door in front of Ash’s room. “But relax, Bree. I’ll keep your secret about your golden boy.”

I try to push her off the bed.

“Go away, Judas! You ate the donuts he brought me,” I accuse.

Karma shows me her tongue, and Ash laughs.

“Stop fighting,” she asks. “And Bree, do us a favor and get a shower before we spend all day in my bed.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Chapter Seventeen

Bree has been essentially ignoring me since the party. It’s been two days since I last saw her during chemistry class. She read the texts that I sent her yesterday but didn’t reply, which is hugely frustrating because I feel like there’s tension between us since Halloween. I’m aware that nothing’s going to be the same since we ignited the spark that was growing between us. However, I didn’t think that she was going to cut me off completely.

She barely looked at me during class.

We both admitted that we were scared of crossing a line in our friendship. I think that we erased it by acknowledging that it’s there; that there are some feelings between us. I know it because I was the first one to do it. I’m deep into this awkward situation with no way out just because I allowed my emotions to reign over my body.

How the hell did I expect us to go back to normal when I was more than willing to cross every line we drew? My dumbass thought we could do it, and now my friend is no longer talking to me. I wish I could say that my hormones were the ones that pushed me to get handsy with her during the party, but that’s not what happened. It was only a small part of it. The truth is that my heart is yearning for her too.

It sucks that the girl that I like doesn’t want anything to do with me. It’s okay. I can handle her not having mutual feelings for me. Whatever, that’s not abigdeal. However, what bothers me is that I don’t want to lose her, and I’ve been making an effort to put Halloween behind us, but Bree isn’t doing her part.

“I don’t even know why I’m here with you,” Ryder mumbles as he takes a sip of his beer, holding the controller of the PlayStation in his other hand. “It’s not like you’re a good company with your depressing mood.”

I roll my eyes with irritation. I wish that he wasn’t in the apartment so that I could be fucking miserable in peace. No, Ryder chose to stay with me and play videogames on a Friday night instead of going to a party or a club.

“I don’t have a depressing mood,” I lie in a grunt.

I haven’t been in my best mood lately, and he knows it. I’m fuckingfrustrated.

Bree is pulling away from me, and I’m terrified that I scared her with my behavior at the party. I know that I didn’t do anything inappropriate. I’ve treated her with the respect she deserves, but I can’t help the irrational thoughts that scream that I did something wrong.

Ryder told me that things looked intense between us at the party. Maybe her friends thought so too, and Bree freaked out.

“You’ve been like an abandoned puppyall week,” he accuses.

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