“How’re you feeling?” she asks, cupping my jaw.
“Better now,” I grunt and grab her arm, sighing in relief when it proves solid. “Much better.”
Not a dream. They’re both here.
“We still need to talk,” Joel says, wrapping his other arm around Candy and drawing her closer to us. “About why you left last night. What you meant.”
“I’ll tell you everything,” she says, ducking her head. “I won’t keep the truth hidden from you any longer.”
A chill chases her words, and I shiver. “What truth? What do you mean?”
In my world, secrets are huge, gaping black holes full of knives and pain. I have a vague idea that not all people have secrets like mine, but hey, I just woke up from another messy nightmare. What can I say?
“The truth about how long I’ve wanted you, guys.”
Okay. That doesn’t sound so bad. So when Joel drags us all to the end of the bed, leans back on the headboard and puts his arms around us, I don’t resist.
Heh, who am I kidding? Their bodies pressed to mine chase away the tattered remnants of the nightmare, and this is a story I wanna hear.
***
“Why did you run?” Joel asks, tucking Candy into his sid
e. “What could be so bad?”
“I’ve wanted you for ages,” Candy whispers, her cheek resting on Joel’s shoulder. “Both of you. I was afraid to tell you, in case you thought I was a stalker. Or that I wasn’t serious.”
“How can wanting us for ages make us think you’re not serious?” I ask, baffled. “Isn’t that, like, the opposite?”
“I was afraid you’d think me one of those obsessed, brainless fangirls.”
“How long are we talking here?” Joel is frowning.
“Um. Like I said last time, a few years?” She’s biting her lip, and I want to kiss her. I want to smooth away the worry from her gaze. “I used to watch you from afar when you were in college. Saw your pictures on Facebook and Instagram, with Jet. Lots of girls want you two.” She looks away. “And I thought I seriously wanted you, both of you, with me.”
“So now it’s not serious?” I shake my head that’s starting to ache again. “Candy…”
“It wasn’t serious back when it started. Or even before I met you. But now… now it is. For me.” She looks up at Joel, then reaches for me, takes my hand. “You just mean so much to me, guys. I got scared last night that you’d freak out if you found out.”
I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. “This is it? This is the big secret?”
“Jet…” Joel says warningly, and I shut my trap. He’s right. This obviously distressed her a lot and wasn’t an easy decision. I shouldn’t make light of it.
“That’s not all,” she says, and yeah, I thought not. “Meeting Joel at the bookstore was a shock. I never expected to meet him, really. But you, Jet…” She glances at me, and my stomach twists again.
“What?”
“Connie, a friend, found out you were going to be at that concert and told me about it. You were the only reason I showed up there. I wanted to meet you.”
Silence falls. I can hear Joel breathing. I can hear the blood rushing in my ears.
“You knew who I was all along. You came to my stall to buy beers, and you knew my name.”
“Well, I didn’t know for sure, but I thought it might be you. You’re always blurry in Joel’s pics on Facebook.”
I nod. Of course I am. I always move and look away, so that anyone looking at them won’t recognize me. Turns out it might all have been for nothing, though. If I’ve been found, as I fear…
Hell.