He paused for a few seconds. "Maybe not. I feel like we didn't really speak to each other much right after that happened." He looked away from me, and I looked down. We both knew the reason we hadn't spoken.
I knew I had two choices. I could sweep that under the rug and pretend it hadn't happened, or I could acknowledge it and move on in life. "You don't have to feel guilty or sad for me that I tried to seduce you and told you I had a puppy crush on you or whatever," I said quickly. "I did have a crush on you when I was young, and I thought you were hot, and I made a mistake. And that was embarrassing for me and for you. But we're passed that now. We’re older and wiser, and neither one of us thinks that, you know, a quick kiss on the lips means love or anything like that.”
He looked into my eyes, and his lips twitched. “That was an interesting morning, for sure.”
“I’m sure it was. And you know, the reason I walked away didn’t have to do with how much I liked or didn’t like you.”
“Yeah, it did. You weren’t into me.”
“That’s not exactly true, Alice,” he said softly.
“Well, it sure felt like it to me. I tried to kiss you, and you rejected me. Then I got naked for you, and you rejected me again and disappeared for hours and—"
"Alice, you have to remember that you were nearly raped the night before."
"I mean, that's a slight exaggeration, Foster."
"He had you on the bed. You were nearly passed out. When I walked in, his hands were up your skirt and..." He took a deep breath. "I shudder to think what would've happened if I hadn't been looking for you and trying to figure out where you'd gotten."
"And I appreciate that. You know that, right? I do." I paused for a few seconds. "I didn't know you'd been looking for me that night."
"How do you think I found you?"
"True. I guess I never thought about that." I shook my head. "How come you were looking for me?"
"Because I wanted to make sure you were okay."
"But you were busy with that redhead."
"What redhead?" he said, looking confused.
"The redhead with the big boobs. You had an arm around her waist and were dancing and..."
He shook his head. "I can't recall who that is." He laughed. "But once you arrived at the party, all I could think about was you and trying to protect you and make sure you were okay. And when I saw you dancing with that creep, and then you disappeared, I knew I had to find you fast."
"Why?" I said.
"Because I didn't want you doing anything stupid or anything bad happening to you."
"Oh because I'm Rosalie's best friend?"
"Yes."
"You've been in my life forever."
"Okay. But it wasn't just because you were Rosalie's best friend." He sighed. "Look, we've always had a close relationship, and you've blossomed into a beautiful woman. And I would be an absolute idiot if I'd never noticed that. Of course, I was into you, Alice, but you were younger than me. You were in high school, and I was in college, and you were Rosalie's best friend. And there was just a whole lot going on there. There were lines I was not about to cross. And I certainly was not going to make any sort of moves when you were in probably one of the most vulnerable positions of your life."
"I wasn't feeling vulnerable when I made a move on you, Foster. You're the reason I went to the party."
He stared at me for a couple of seconds and let out a deep sigh. "That was a weird time back then."
"It was." I nodded. "But I'm glad we cleared the air. We never really spoke about it."
"No, we didn't. I was just thankful I was able to protect you that night and hoped that you wouldn't make another stupid decision like that."
"I never did," I said quickly. "Never."
"You never got naked for a guy again and tried to seduce them," he said, his eyes twinkling, though I could tell he wanted to know the answer.