“So, what is this big news you have to tell me?” Dean attempted to sound tough, but I knew he had to be dying inside.
“I need you to stop being so mean right now,” Melissa begged. “Please? This is really hard for me. ”
I wished I could see Dean’s face. Or at least his hazel eyes. I imagined them instantly softening with her words.
“I’ll stop,” he replied.
“Thanks. ” She sucked in a long breath before letting it out slowly. “First, I just want you to know that I do like you, Dean. I always have. ”
“You like me, like me?” he interrupted, his tone surprised, and I had to stop myself from giggling at his word choice.
“So much,” she said, then paused as it sounded like she was pacing across our garage floor.
Jack poked me in the shoulder, his eyes wide with excited shock. I nodded with a tight-lipped grin as Melissa continued, “And I’m so sorry for everything. The way I acted and pretending like I didn’t care. ”
“Why? Why did you pretend? You fucking crushed me in New York. Why would you do that?” Dean’s voice was pained as he referred to their trip to visit us several months before.
“I just got scared,” she said in a small voice.
“Of what?”
Silence.
I squeezed Jack’s arm as I waited for her response. Pressing my lips against his face, I whispered into Jack’s ear, “This is killing me. ”
“Me too,” he admitted.
Minutes of continued silence passed, deafening us all with the possibilities not yet spoken.
“Melissa,” Dean said, his voice finally breaking through the quiet. “Scared of what? You have to tell me. Please. Don’t close off now. ”
Footsteps shuffled outside our line of vision and I held my breath.
“Please. I want to know,” Dean pleaded.
“You’re Jack’s brother and I’m Cassie’s best friend. We’re going to be in each other’s lives forever. I was afraid that if we tried to be together and it didn’t work out, it would ruin everything. That everything would be awkw
ard and uncomfortable. And one of us would eventually have to leave, and well, it’s not going to be you, because you’re freaking related to Jack. So it would be me. I’d get kicked out of the group because you and I tried to love each other and it didn’t work out. So then I wouldn’t have only lost you, but my best friend and her baby too. ”
Jack caught my eye and whispered angrily, “What am I, chopped liver? She’d lose me too!”
Shaking my head at his narcissistic view of the world, I shot an elbow into his ribs to shut him up.
Back in the garage, Dean laughed. “Is that it?” he said to tease Melissa, and I couldn’t stop the small laugh that escaped my lips.
“What do you mean, is that it? That’s everything, Dean. Cassie’s my best friend. Do you know how important that is to a girl? I can’t lose her. I can’t lose you both. ”
The sound of my best friend crying pained me. Jack knew I wanted to go in there and comfort her, so he tightened his grip on my body. “Let them work this out,” he reminded me with a soft kiss to the back of my head.
Dean’s voice was soothing as he said, “I know how important your friendship is to both of you. I’d never come between you. You know I’d never want that. ” When he finished, more shuffling sounds filtered through the open door.
“Of course you wouldn’t want it, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen. Even by just talking about this, we’re opening up something we can’t take back. ”
“I don’t want to take it back,” he said in a low voice.
“You say that now. ” Melissa sniffed, sounding so pitiful my heart broke a little more for her.
“I’ll say that always. I want to be with you. I’ve always wanted to be with you. Why are you so convinced we won’t last?”