His eyes find mine, and he nods. "I have to go do something."
"Uh...okay." But then it clicks; he is going to Katherine. My stomach immediately drops. Why does he have to go to her? Now of all times?
He must see my panicked face. "I’ll come home tonight; I won’t go to Wes’s."
I force myself to answer. "Okay."
It’s wellpast midnight by the time I get home. I’ve just spent the last three-plus hours getting yelled at by a furious cheerleader. Of course, her main concern was whatthe schoolwould think. Who the fuck cares? When the yelling didn’t help, she went for tears, but she forgot that I’ve seen it all before. I’ve witnessed her tactics for years, and just because I played along or chose to ignore it, doesn’t mean they work on me. Eventually, she kicks me out, and I’m glad to leave. Lilly probably thinks by now that I’ve changed my mind, and I prepare multiple speeches in my head to convince her that sheis the only one for me.
The house is quiet,and Lilly’s room is dark. I curse at myself for letting Kat go on for so long. I have to shower and change first before I can go to Lilly. At one point, Kat started throwing random stuff, one of which was a flower vase with disgustingly old water. Once I’m sure I no longer smell of rotten plants, I creep over to Lilly’s room.
As soon as I open the door, I can see the light of her e-reader on the far end of the bed. She waited for me, which makes me pick up my pace. I walk to her side and kneel down. In the dim light, I can see her questioning look, and I take one of her hands away from the device and fold it between mine. "It’s done."
"Wh-what is done?" She is nervous, and I press my lips together. I feel like a piece of shit now for not explicitly telling her what I was going to do.
I exhale slowly. "I told Kat that we’re over."
Lilly whispers, "You were gone for a long time."
I squeeze her hand and sigh. "She didn’t take it well. I’m hurting her social standing." I have to snort. "We knew from the start that it was never true love for us. All she ever cared about was how we, or more likelyshe, looked to everyone else dating me."
Lilly looks me straight in the face. "You told me that you dated her for appearances, but I still don’t understand. Why her? She is so—"
"Evil?" I finish the sentence for her with a smirk.
"I guess. That’s one word to describe her." She gives me a one-sided shrug.
I squeeze her hand. "That’s easy. She is the opposite ofyou, and I needed that to function."
Lilly exhales sharply. "Oh."
We look at each other for a long moment, and then her eyes gaze at the alarm clock. It’s almost one in the morning. She puts her e-reader on the bedside table, and I stand up, getting ready to leave. That’s when she scoots to the middle of her bed and says, "Stay."
My breath hitches, and I don’t think I’ve heard her correctly. "Uh..."
I can’t see her face anymore, but I swear she’s smiling when she responds, "You and me."
These three words are spoken with raw emotion, and there is no question anymore. I’m hyperaware of the proximity between us as I settle on top of her comforter. Despite everything that has brought us to this point and everything we’re going to have to deal with come morning, I’m pretty sure if I slide under the covers with her, I’ll lose the last bit of self-restraint I have. We lie facing each other, and I take both her hands between mine.
"This is going to be hard." I nuzzle her hands to my face and press them against my lips.
"Huh?" Lilly doesn’t understand what I mean.
"You being mine, but..." I take a resigned breath. "No one can know."
My eyes have adjusted to the darkness, and I can make out her features again. She places one hand on the side of my face, and the touch sends all my senses into overdrive. My heart is hammering in my chest.
She gazes at me with such love that I can barely breathe. "We’ll figure it out."
All I want is to kiss her so bad, but it’s not the right time. Everything is too fresh, and we still have the issue of her kidnapper being back. Instead, I settle my hand over hers and lean into the touch.
I wakewith a start around four a.m. I don’t remember falling asleep and stare at her sleeping form for several minutes before finally forcing myself to leave. Once in my room, I send Wes a text.
We need to talk.
I’m surprised when he responds right away. It’s the middle of the night.
Time and place?