Harleigh
“Harleigh, come on, open up.”Celeste banged softly on the door again. Well, as softly as a bang on a door could be.
After I’d all but dragged her into Strike One, I’d demanded her and Miles take me back. She wanted to know what had happened, I hadn’t wanted to talk about it.
I still didn’t want to talk about it.
I couldn’t.
Not without edging closer to that dangerous line.
It made no sense why he was there tonight. Watching me.
Stalkingme.
I didn’t understand… couldn’t organize my thoughts into any kind of order that made sense.
Phoenix was my past. Not my present nor my future. So why the hell was he at the bowling alley earlier? As if he… Knew. Exactly. Where. To. Find. Me.
“Harl—”
“Come in.” I sighed.
She slipped into the room and pressed her back against the door, offering me a weak smile. “I promised myself not to push you, but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t go to sleep without knowing you’re okay.”
“I’m not going to do anything stupid, if that’s what you’re asking.”
Celeste flinched at my cold tone. “Harleigh, that’s not…” She released a heavy sigh. “Look, I get it. You’re not used to letting people in. And I know Mom and Dad haven’t exactly made it easy for you, but I don’t care about them. I care about you. You’re my sister and I’m here. Whether you want to talk, sit in silence, or binge-watch cheesy horror movies and eat our body weight in candy. I’m here.”
“You’re a good person, Celeste. One of the best people I know.”
“Is that your way of saying you love me too?” A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.
I patted the bed and shuffled over to give her enough room. Celeste took a run and jump, flopping onto her back and stuffing a pillow behind her head.
“So which one are we doing? A, b, or c?”
“His name is Phoenix Wilder.”
“I know who he is, Harleigh.”
“You do? But you said—”
She lifted her shoulders in a small shrug. “I wanted you to come to me. I heard what Marc said to you. Everyone knows his beef with Darling Hill High’s star quarterback Phoenix Wilder. I’ve heard some of the stories. I didn’t realize you two were… close.”
“I’m not really sure there’s a word to describe what Phoenix was to me.” I ran my hand over one of the shaggy pillows, letting my finger sink into the soft fibers, the texture soothing the wild, erratic beat of my heart.
“You loved him.” She didn’t ask it as a question but stated it as something definitive.
Inevitable.
That’s what I’d always assumed about me and Nix. That we were inevitable. That one day, he would look at me and realize he loved me the way I’d always loved him.
“I did. So much that I didn’t ever imagine a time when I didn’t love him.”
“What happened?”
“He abandoned me. When I needed him most, he… abandoned me.”