Love Letters

I stood in the doorway, gaping at Trey. He tilted his head to the side, confused. If Trey didn’t have his personality and I didn’t know him for as long as I had, I probably would have demanded an answer about what he did to her to make her want to break up with him but since I knew that he did absolutely nothing and he probably never could, I just stood there, staring at him and trying to think of something to say.

“Karlee?” he asked, waving a hand in front of my face. “You’re shivering. Do you want to come in?”

“What did she say to you?” I finally asked.

“Come inside,” he said, putting a hand on my back and giving me a little push into the house.

“Trey, what reason did she give you for breaking up with you?” I asked.

He closed the door behind me, shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged. He looked so fragile right now. I had seen Trey down in the dumps before but he had only ever been this upset when Pax was put in the hospital because he got in a fight with one of Dalton’s friends for calling Trey a faggot. Trey gave it to the guy later, to say the least, because Pax clearly wasn’t that good of a fighter and he was the first one unconscious. I was worried I was going to say something and it would come out wrong, so I was careful when choosing my words in case it made him even more upset.

“She said that she felt like she had to compete with you,” Trey replied. “I didn’t know what she was talking about and when I told her that, she said she was tired of being compared to my best friend and that if I couldn’t accept her for who she was, then I wasn’t worth it.” He sighed and sat down on the bench by the door, putting his head in his hands. “I don’t even get why she feels this way. Not once have I compared her to anyone else and it’s not like I didn’t give her any attention. I was by her side for your whole birthday . . . well, almost. And I’ve done nothing but hang out with her for the past week and a half. You know that too. I called off hanging out with you to try and patch things up with her because I knew she was upset with me. How was I a bad boyfriend? I was concerned about my girlfriend, wasn’t I?”

I nodded and sat down next to him. “Trey, I have to tell you something.”

He looked up. “What?”

“At my party . . . when I went to the bathroom, Ruby came in and she told me she didn’t want me to hang out with you as much,” I explained. “I knew she was upset about it but I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. I mean, you and I are close like her and Dalton are. She didn’t really have a reason to dump you when she’s just as bad. You said so yourself; she was hanging out with her friends too much and she practically ignored you.”

“I know, and I told her that,” he said, leaning back and closing his eyes. “I said that she wasn’t exactly treating me with the amount of respect she anticipates from me so maybe she needs to reevaluate herself but that didn’t seem to do much. Did she threaten you?”

I shook my head. “Well . . . not really. She just gave me a warning; like a teacher would give a student.”

“Like Mr. Griffin did to us,” he said, opening his eyes again.

I laughed. “Yeah, like that.”

“What did she say?”

I wasn’t about to tell Trey about how she had told Dalton that he had kissed me, because that would just make things awkward between us, and I wasn’t going to tell him that Ruby had brought up the thing about Trey choosing between the two of us either. She thought he would choose me. I had a lot to tell him, but at the same time, it was all things that I just couldn’t say.

“She just . . . asked for more time with you,” I said, closing my hands between my knees. Trey concentrated on them for a moment, almost as if he was contemplating what to say to me, like he didn’t want to say something, and then looked up to meet my eyes.

“That’s really all of it?” he asked. I nodded sharply. “You sure?”

“I’m positive.”

He rubbed the palms of his hands on his thighs and stood up. “You should probably be getting to the party, eh?” he said, checking his watch. “You don’t want to spend too much time standing here talking to me when you’re supposed to be there getting your Romeo.”

He held the door for me but I just stared at him. There was a look in his eyes that was telling me the exact opposite thing as what he was saying. He didn’t want me to leave, but he didn’t want to keep me here either. But he needed me. I stood up as well and closed the door, not once breaking eye contact. Trey was there for me all the time, and I wasn’t going to go to a party and ditch him when he needed me.

“I’m not going,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m staying here with you.”

“But . . . Dalton—”

“No. Forget Dalton, okay? I’m not leaving you.”

“Karlee—”

“Stop trying to get me to leave when I know you want me here,” I said, smiling at him. “Like I said to you before, I’d always choose you over a date and even though it doesn’t really classify, I’m still considering it one so we’ll hang out and watch really old Halloween movies and if you need to bitch, I’m here to listen. Deal?”

Trey laughed. “Thanks, Karlee.”

I nudged him with my shoulder. “Hey, I’m here whenever you need me.”

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Where the hell are you guys?! I have to look over Pax because he’s totally lost the ability to walk!

I laughed and showed Trey the text message I had received on my phone from Andy. We were laying on the floor with hot chocolate’s and popcorn, all of the lights turned off and the fireplace on while we watched the third Halloween movie of the night. If it was anyone else, it would have been the perfect setting for major lip action.

Trey smiled and passed my phone back to me. “He’s probably drunk,” he replied. “You know Pax and underage drinking; he’s all for it and not even my mom can’t stop him. If he really can’t get home, I’ll just go get him later. I’ll apologize for your absence too.”

“You don’t have to,” I said, shaking my head and taking some popcorn out of the bowl. “Dalton will understand. I’m sure he already knows that Ruby broke it off with you, since they’re best friends and all. And he knows that we’re best friends so he’ll probably put two and two together and figure it out.”

Trey nodded. “Okay.” He sat up and rubbed his hands together. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Sure, what?”

He cleared his throat. He sounded nervous. “Has anyone said anything to you lately, about us?”

I could feel my face heating up. Oh God, we were going to have this discussion. “What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s just . . . Dalton came up to me the other day in the hall and asked me if I had ever fooled around with you,” he said, his hands forming fists in his lap. “At first, I thought he was just kidding, that maybe it was some kind of practical joke, you know? But he was dead serious. I think someone told him that we hooked up. Is there a rumor going around school or . . ?”

My eyes went wide. “Well, uhm—”

“I just wanted to know if you had heard any of this,” he said, biting his lip. “I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable but, well . . . if someone did say that we were more than friends and it got around to Ruby, that might have been one of the reasons she ended it with me so I need to know.”

“Well, at my party, Dalton said that Ruby had told him you kissed me,” I said, trying to make it clear on my face that this conversation was making me very tingly inside. I had talked to Trey about us possibly becoming a couple once before, but that was when Andy had asked us both right in front of each other if we had ever dated and we just needed to clear the air. Now that there really wasn’t any air needed to be cleared, things seemed to be a lot different. Why was all of this coming up now? Why hadn’t I heard about anyone’s assumptions years before?

“She did?” Trey’s eyes were wide as well.

“Yeah,” I said. “But I told him we were just friends. Why, did you hear something from someone else?”

“Well . . . I didn’t want to say anything but when I was hanging out with you at lunch, I passed this girl in the line for the cafeteria and she asked me if we were a couple because apparently she had seen us around the school and thought that we were ‘so cute’,” he replied, shifting uncomfortably. “I just, I told her the same thing but she didn’t look like she believed me. What I don’t get is why any of this is coming up when we’ve been best friends for years now and pretty much the whole school knows I’m seeing Ruby. Well . . . was seeing Ruby.”

“I don’t know. That’s what confuses me too,” I said. A pregnant pause fell over the both of us, and then Trey spoke again but the question he asked caught me off guard.

“Do you ever think about it?”

I played dumb and pretended that I had no idea what he was talking about it. “About what?”

Nice. Real nice.

“About us,” Trey replied, gulping. “I mean, I can admit that sometimes I do but if you don’t, then we can just disregard this whole conversation and act like it never happened.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. He was talking about looking at me in a romantic sense. That sent my whole world spiraling in a completely different direction. I wasn’t sure if that meant he was admitting to having feelings for me, or if he just considered what it would be like to date me, but I wasn’t going to lie to him, so I answered honestly.

“Yes.”

“Really?” Trey was obviously surprised.

“Yeah,” I said. “Andy brought it up a few times, and so have other people. It got me thinking what it would be like if you hadn’t gotten together with Ruby.”

I contemplated telling him that I had a crush on him before, but there was only so much information he could process in one night so I left it at that.

“Well.” He cleared his throat again. “I should . . . actually probably tell you something fairly important.”

“What?”

He took a deep breath, like he was preparing himself. “I’m—”

His phone erupted with noise and I jumped, surprised at the sudden noise. Trey reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, flipping it opened and putting it to his ear.

“Hello?” he asked and when whoever he was talking to replied to him, his face fell. “Oh. Hi.”

He looked at me through the corner of his eye and held up a finger. I nodded and he stood up, walking out of the room. I took a deep breath and covered my face in my hands. What the hell just happened? Did Trey just admit that there were more feelings there than just being best friends? Did I admit the same thing?

I couldn’t deny that Trey was striking. He was, without a doubt, the best looking guy I knew and his personality made him that much more attractive because guys with lousy attitudes always turned me right off of them. I also knew that Trey was a total sweetheart and without a doubt the best friend I ever had, but looking at him in a romantic way was just completely different. I took a minute and thought long and hard about it while he was gone. With the thought out of my mind that he was just a friend—even for a second—he was immediately even more gorgeous and my heartbeat sped up at the idea of it. It made me think of all the times I had seen him without a shirt on and how it had never really affected me, or how when his hand accidentally would brush against mine when we walked together didn’t seem to faze me, or all those times he had hugged me or tackled me to the ground; any situation with physical contact.

Maybe there was a lot more to our friendship than we were letting on to.

Trey returned now and put his phone back in his pocket.

“That was Ruby,” he said hesitantly. “She called me crying. She’s . . . on her way over, actually.”

“She is?” I asked, a little disappointed.

“Yeah,” he said. “She said she wants to talk things out, apologize.” He shrugged.

“Oh.” I stood up and brushed off my shirt. “Well, I should probably leave then.”

“You don’t have to.”

“No, I . . . it’s late. I should be getting home now anyway,” I replied, looking at my wrist for the time but I wasn’t wearing a watch so now I felt really idiotic. “I’ll, uhm . . . I’ll talk to you later?”

Trey nodded. “Okay.”

“Thanks for having me over,” I said, grabbing my shoes and leaving his house before I had even put them on. I closed the door and quickly slipped them on, walking away before he could come outside if he needed to say anything, or before I had a run-in with Ruby and got yelled at for being around her boyfriend alone and in his house.

I stayed in my room for the rest of the night, writing the crap out of my journal and pen. I only used it when I really needed to release stress or had something I needed to clear my head of and this was one of them. I needed to figure out if I actually had feelings for Trey, or if it was just all a spur-of-the-moment kind of situation. I was sure it was the second one, and also hoping for it to be. Maybe I did have feelings for him—or at least subconsciously—but I really felt that it was just because of our talk that I was thinking about it.

I had really only liked three people before in my life; Trey, Dalton, and Christabelle’s friend, Nick. Of course, the crush on Nick died off the minute I found out he was Andy’s older brother and she would royally kick my ass if she ever found out about it. Dalton was an obvious one; he was sweet, very cute, and just overall an amazing guy. He treated me great, and made me feel important, and what he had said about wanting us to be a couple made my heart flutter and my stomach flip from anxiety. Not the bad kind; the very good kind. And he looked out for me.

Then there was Trey. It was impossible to refuse that there was something between us which was more than friendship. Roxy was right when she said that not many people that claimed to be ‘just friends’ spent that much time together, but I was convinced that it was just because we had known each other for so long and since we had managed not to annoy each other for that long, we liked being together because we always had fun and never ran out of things to talk about. Plus, Trey was there for me more than anyone else I knew; even more than my own family. That was why I had convinced myself that he was like a brother to me. And when I focused on that, I knew that there was no way I was going to be able to bring myself to feel anything but that for him. He needed me as a friend, not a love interest.

After my dad and Anne had gone to bed around ten, I went downstairs and found Aiden in the living room, watching some crazy slasher flick.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, raising my eyebrows and sitting down beside him on the couch. “You know that you have a house, right?”

“The baby is driving me insane,” he said, pushing his glasses up and putting a spoonful of ice cream in his mouth. “Joanne told me to take a breather before I broke a lamp or something.”

“What’s Emery doing?” I asked.

“She’s still teething, so she’s screaming bloody murder even when we give her something to gnaw on,” he replied.

“Ah, she’s getting her canine teeth,” I said, smiling. “That’s cute. I remember you telling me I was a pain in your ass when I was getting my teeth in.”

“Maybe she gets it from you,” he said, smiling. “You’re both monstrously loud. It’s driving me crazy.”

“Watch it,” I said. “I live here full time, you don’t. I can kick you out.”

He scoffed. “As if. Ice cream?” He held out a second spoon for me and I took it, dipping into the chocolate ice cream container on the table. I glanced at Aiden and raised my eyebrows. He just shrugged. “I figured you were up when you yelled ‘shit!’ and I was in the basement. I could still hear you. I’m surprised dad didn’t.”

“He’s a heavy sleeper,” I replied. “Remember when we let the neighbours’ cat into the house and he scratched the living crap out of dad’s face but he didn’t feel a thing?”

Aiden laughed. “Good times. I miss living here. So why are you up so late? You’re usually out like a light.”

I frowned. “Dude, I always sneak out. Christabelle was the one that fell asleep easily.”

“Oh, right.” Aiden sighed and rubbed his forehead. “I miss my sisters.” He wrapped an arm around my shoulder and I squirmed relentlessly.

“Don’t get gushy on me now, Aiden,” I said.

He laughed. “All right. So how was your night? Dad told me you went to a party.”

I shook my head. “No, I hung out with Trey.”

“Weston?” He nodded. “Good choice. I like him. He’s not a dick and I don’t feel like I have to kick his ass every time I see him.”

“That’s because he’s taller than you,” I said, smirking. “He could beat you up, even now when you’re nearly ten years older than us.”

“Fair enough. Are you two dating yet?”

“No, and we’re not going to either,” I said, glaring at him.

Aiden glared back, mocking me. “Karlee.”

“Aiden.”

“How have you two gone so long without anything even slightly romantic happening? Are you both that big of prudes that you’re not willing to make any moves?” he pondered, crossing his arms.

“We’re not prudes,” I growled. “We’re just not interested.”

He scoffed. “I’ve heard that before.”

“From who?”

“Christabelle,” he answered. “And look who she’s dating now.” I frowned. “Plus, I used that line with Joanne before we started dating and dad was hassling me about if I had gotten her pregnant yet or not.”

I flinched. “You know, some things we don’t have to share.”

“All I’m saying is that the minute you start doubting being just friends is the minute that you’re not,” he replied. “So you can keep trying to convince yourself that there’s nothing there and that he’s some kind of ‘family figure’.” He used air quotes and rolled his eyes. “Fact is, he’s not.”

I scowled at him. “I’m going to bed,” I said, standing up. Aiden laughed.

“That’s right. I went psychological on your ass. Brush your teeth,” he added over his shoulder, not once breaking eye contact from the television.

“I always do,” I returned, walking up the stairs and stepping into the bathroom. I brushed my teeth and then, when I was finished, went back to my bedroom and lied down on my bed, getting ready for sleep to overtake me. But I was awakened again at half past eleven by a constant vibration from my phone on my dresser. I grabbed it and flipped it opened.

“Hello?” I asked groggily, rubbing my eyes.

“Hey Karlee? It’s Dalton.”

“Oh, hi.” I sat up straighter and swung my legs over the side of my bed. “I’m sorry I didn’t make it to your party. I was hanging out with Trey. He was really upset about Ruby.”

“That’s okay. I understand,” he said, pausing for a moment before speaking again. “Listen, I kind of need you over at my place right now. There’s . . . something you need to see.”

“What is it? Is it bad?” I asked, alarmed.

“Yeah, it’s Pax. He’s . . . he’s totally out of it. He thinks I’m a leprechaun and Andy tried to get him into Sam’s car to take him home but he wouldn’t listen. We could really use your help. I think he drank way too much,” he replied.

“I’m on my way,” I said, heading to my closet to get some clothes instead of sneaking out in my pajamas. Seeing as they had small white dogs on them, showing up to Dalton’s house wearing them would be the single most embarrassing thing to ever happen.

“Can you bring Trey too?” Dalton asked. “I’m sure he’d want to help his brother out.”

“No problem. I’ll give him a call,” I said, tearing a sweater right off the hanger.

“Okay. I’ll see you when you get here,” he replied, hanging up. I did the same and changed quickly, racing down the stairs and putting my shoes on. Aiden was still on the couch but he was lying down now and his eyes were almost completely closed but when I came bounding past him, he shot up like someone had invaded the house.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“Don’t tell dad,” I said. “I’m going to help Pax. Dalton said he’s borderline insane so we need to try and get him sober before the night’s over. Look out for me?”

“Be careful,” he said, lifting a hand to dismiss me and then lying down again. I stepped outside and raced down the street to Trey’s house. I knocked on his door, bouncing on my heels while I shivered, and he opened the door.

“Hey,” he said, a little surprised to see me standing on his doorstep for the second time tonight. “What’s going on?”

“Dalton needs our help,” I said simply. “It’s Pax.”

His eyes went wide. “What happened? Is he in trouble?”

“He’s just drunk out of his mind. He refuses to go anywhere so we need to get him back home,” I explained. “But you don’t have to come if you don’t want to. I’m sure Dalton and I can handle it.”

Trey shook his head and grabbed his jacket and shoes. “He’s my brother. I’m coming.” Once he was ready, he locked up the house and we both ran down the sidewalk to where Dalton lived.

He opened the door before we even got to it and ushered us inside.

“He’s in there,” he said, pointing us to the living room. The whole house was completely trashed with beer bottles, plastic cups, and a load of other garbage.

“Holy crap,” I breathed. “Do you need help cleaning this place?”

Dalton shook his head. “I can handle it. You guys just focus on getting Pax home. My brother’s upstairs if you need his car and you don’t want to carry him. I’d drive but Amanda took the car.”

I nodded and followed Trey. Pax was lying on the couch, singing the lyrics to “We All Live in a Yellow Submarine” but after the chorus, he just kind of yelled random words since he didn’t know the rest of it.

“Pax?” I asked, going down on my knees and brushing hair off his forehead. “How you holding up, big guy?”

“I’m a little tired,” he moaned. “But I’m great! Although, I’ll tell you this . . .” He sat up and swayed back and forth, pointing a very weak finger at me. “I’m never getting that drunk ever again. I didn’t like the pirate costumes. Did you see them? They were really ugly.”

“No, I didn’t. But it wasn’t a costume party, Pax. You’re delusional.”

“No more drinking,” Trey said strictly. “Deal? We don’t like seeing you like this.”

Pax nodded.

“Come on, let’s get you home,” I said.

He let out an animalistic growl and tore his arm out of my grip when I tried to pull him up. Trey cocked a brow. “I don’t want to leave!” Pax yelled, curling into a fetal position and cuddling a pillow on the couch. “This is so comfortable. And the party’s just getting started! We can’t leave without saying goodbye to everyone!”

Trey shook his head. “The party’s over, man,” he said. “We’ve got to get you home. Do you want some water before we leave?”

“I want a beer.”

“No.”

“Okay, Trey.” Pax stood, but toppled over onto both of us and nearly knocked us on the ground. “Whoa. Are you . . . are you okay?” he asked, putting a hand on Trey’s shoulder. “That looked like a bad fall.”

Trey bit his lip, trying not to laugh. “I’m fine. Thanks for looking out for me. Come on. Let’s go take a drive.”

“Can I be the driver?”

“No.”

Pax groaned loudly and wrapped an arm around his brother’s shoulder, dragging himself to the door. Trey motioned for me to go get Sam, and he would handle Pax. I nodded and ran upstairs, knocking on the closed door with a light shining out from underneath. It opened up and there stood a very tall replica of Dalton. His hair was a bit longer and he had a few freckles but basically, they were almost twins. Their features were the same and the build was the same, but just the few defining characteristics that made it easy for me to tell them apart.

“Hi Sam,” I said. “Our drunk friend needs a ride home. Do you mind lending a hand?”

He smiled. “No problem. You’re Karlee, right?” I nodded. “Dalton’s told me a lot about you, but then again, so has Amanda.” He shrugged. “I go by my brother’s word and from what I’ve heard, you sound nice. So where’s the friend?”

“I think he’s outside by now,” I replied. Sam nodded, turned off the light and stepped around me. I followed him back downstairs and grabbed Pax’s shoes from in front of the door while Sam went around and told Dalton that he was driving us home. Dalton gave me a wave and I returned it, stepping inside. Sam unlocked the door and Trey dropped his brother into the back seat, lifting his legs and pushing them over to the other side. Pax toppled over immediately and his head hit the door handle—hard—but he didn’t say a word because in such a short time, he had gone from out-of-control energetic to completely exhausted. He let out a small hum when Trey climbed in beside him. I came around the other side and lifted his head, sitting down beside him. Sam slid into his seat while I reached across Pax to pull his seatbelt on. I clipped mine into place after and we left the house.

Pax’s head was rested on Trey’s shoulder. I almost died of laughter when Pax reached up and stroked a finger down his brother’s cheek. “I love you, man,” he hummed. “You’re the best brother ever.”

Trey hesitated, looking at Pax oddly, and very disturbed. “Thanks. Love you too,” he muttered, clearly uncomfortable. Pax’s erratic and uneven breathing eventually slowed down and we heard him snoring.

I glanced passed him at Trey, who was staring out the window. “How are you going to get him by your mom?” I whispered. He turned to me.

“I won’t be able to,” he replied, shaking his head. “I’ll just tell her to save the lecture and the yelling until the morning.”

I nodded and looked away, crossing my legs.

Sam pulled into the Weston’s driveway and Trey stepped out, dragging Pax with him. He was unconscious now and there was no way he was going to wake up until the morning. “I’m just going to drop him off and then I’ll come back,” he said quietly. “I’ll help Dalton clean up his house a bit. Chances are, this guy caused half the mess.” He nodded to Pax and pulled him up the driveway and into the house. I saw the front door open and then close, and waited for a moment for him to return.

“Do you want me to drop you off at your house?” Sam asked.

“It’s okay,” I said. “I’m going to help him clean up too. Your house has turned into a hotbed for trash and I’m sure you guys don’t want your parents to come home and kill you both in your sleep; especially since you were the designated supervisor.”

Sam laughed. “You’re very reasonable, aren’t you?”

“A bit.”

He smiled. “I can see why my brother likes you.”

I grinned and folded my hands on my lap, looking over when Trey slid back into his seat and closed the door. Sam drove off and after a few minutes of awkward conversation where he asked us questions about school, girlfriends, dating and plans for the future, he arrived back at his house. We all stepped out and made our way up to the door.

“What happened with Ruby?” I finally asked Trey.

He looked down at me. “She apologized, said that she was just angry and overreacted.” He stayed quiet for a few seconds, and then spoke again. “She asked me if I wanted to get back together again.”

My head snapped up in his direction, alarmed. “What?”

“Yeah.” He shrugged.

“What did you say to her?”

“I said I’d think about it,” he replied. “I told her that if she really didn’t mean it, she wouldn’t have done it in the first place. He walked passed me into the house and joined Sam in cleaning up the living room. I grabbed a garbage bag from the garage and worked on the dining room, and then gradually worked into the kitchen. After a good hour, my eyelids were beginning to get very heavy and my back was sore from leaning over to pick up all of the garbage. There were a lot of stains on the rug but I couldn’t seem to get them out so I let Sam take over there. Then another half an hour passed, and he told us he was going to bed. He gave me a handshake, said it was nice to meet me and then retired upstairs for the night. I rubbed my forehead and tied a knot with the garbage bag, leaving it in the kitchen. I washed my hands in the sink and dried them on a towel, and then Dalton walked in wearing rubber gloves.

“My house is disgusting,” he groaned, tearing them off and heading for the sink.

“I thought it was only going to be a few people,” I said, leaning back against the counter and crossing my arms.

“It was, but people told their friends, who told their friends, who told their friends and ‘just a few’ turned into ‘a shit load of waste producers that enjoy ruining my carpets’,” he said, smiling. “It was nice to see you, though. Too bad we couldn’t have spent more time together.”

“I’m really sorry,” I said. “I wanted to, but I needed to be there for Trey. Ruby breaking up with him, that was . . .” I shook my head. “It was really unexpected and it caught us both off guard so we hung out at his house and talked it over.”

“It wasn’t like a chore, was it?” he asked. “You know, looking after him.”

“Not at all,” I said. “I had fun, but I would have liked to see you too.”

“Well you didn’t have to come back and clean up,” he said, turning away to clear the kitchen table of leftover bottles and glasses. “I appreciate the help but it’s not your job. I’m sure you’ve got tons of other places to be tonight.”

This was the moment. The way I saw it, I had two options; tell him what I was really thinking or walk away and forever be just friends. I wanted to take this somewhere with Dalton, because I really liked him, but for some reason, I felt like I would be betraying Trey. Since there wasn’t anything happening there, I had no reason to feel that way but there was still that tiny shred of doubt deep down that made my stomach churn painfully.

I pushed it aside. I had promised myself that I would get my fairytale like Christabelle had, and she only really got hers by taking action. Now it was my turn, and I was almost one hundred percent certain that if I did this, I would get it.

I took a deep breath. “What if the one place I want to be right now is here with you?”

Dalton looked over his shoulder at me, amazed. Now, the ball was in his court, and that was why I nearly jumped with joy when he took a step toward me, and then another, and then another until he was standing right in front of me.

He leaned down, his lips hovering over mine. And then he kissed me. It was everything it should have been and it wasn’t like last time when it was just a simple brush of the lips—no, this was a full-on kiss. My knees got weak, my heart felt like it weighed nothing at all, and of course there I was, not knowing what the hell I was supposed to do. Here was Dalton, an expert kisser and absolutely gorgeous and yet he was kissing someone who was practically pudding in his hands. I finally made a move and wrapped my arms around his neck, pressing my lips a little harder against his.

His arms came around my waist and pulled me flush against him.

And then we heard a loud bang. I tore away from Dalton and looked at the doorway where Trey stood, rubbing his hands on his jeans. He was just staring at us, acting like he hadn’t seen anything. A full garbage bag sat at his feet. He kicked it to the side and rolled up his sleeves and although it must have looked to Dalton like Trey couldn’t have cared less, I noticed the lines in his jaw tighten and his eyes weren’t his usual, soft ones; they were cold and hard. He was angry.

“Living room’s basically clean,” he said. “Just a stain on the carpet. I’m going to head home, so uh . . . see you guys tomorrow, I guess.”

“I’m not going,” Dalton said. “It’ll just be you and Karlee.”

Oh God.

“Okay. See you on Monday, then.”

“Yeah. See you, man,” Dalton said, leaning back with his hands on the end of the counter now. I crossed my arms over my chest quickly, feeling the need to cover something that was already covered.

Trey glanced at me for a quick second, and then turned swiftly and left. I sighed and scratched the back of my head.

“Well that was awkward.”

Dalton looked over at me. “We don’t have to answer to Trey, you know.”

“Yeah, but still,” I said, biting my lip. “He and Ruby just broke up and then he walks in on me kissing her best friend when I know she dumped him. Don’t you find that a little insensitive?”

“Not really, but I understand where you’re coming from,” he said. “Listen, whatever happened between Trey and Ruby has absolutely nothing to do with us, just as whatever happens with us has nothing to do with them. If he gets upset at you for making a move on a guy you like, how is that fair?”

I paused. “I don’t know.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, pushing some hair back behind my ear. “I like you, and that’s really all that matters. That, and one more thing.”

“What?”

Dalton smiled. “I would really like to be your boyfriend.”