Page 81 of Hello Kitten
“Tell me! I can’t read your mind! I want to be included, come on,” Danielle begs.
I lick across my bottom lip. “I’m really serious about no one else knowing. It’s not worse than getting drugged.”
“Just say it.”
“So ... I mean ...” the words are right there. I should be able to get them out.
Beth groans. “My God! You’ve been dating Dr. Hayes the whole time. You went to the wedding with him. It was him that I texted when you were drugged. You’ve been going to his place every weekend.”
Danielle starts to laugh, but I don’t, and her laughter fades real fast. She swallows as she stares at me with wide eyes. “No way. I’ve been constantly talking about how yummy he is and how great he looks and ... Oh my God. There’s no way. You would have told us.”
“You said you never wanted to hear about him again,” I say to Beth.
She sighs. “You were all sad when you came home from the wedding and when you looked like shit so did he. He could barely stop looking at you all week, then you perked up and looked happy again, started styling yourself, all of that, and he perked up too. It was really obvious, babe.”
“But I ... you texted him,” I accuse.
“You knew andyoudidn’t tellme?” Danielle pouts. “Why was I left out? I mean, you, Em, didn’t tell me the first time, Beth had to, and now I didn’t get to know this?”
“Danielle, you love spilling secrets to get secrets and this is the juiciest one. That’s why I only told you that they had a one night stand and Em was having trouble getting over it,” Beth says.
“We love you,” I promise. “Really. You know that. I’ll always hold your hair when you puke. I’ll be the D.D. any night youwant to party. I let you raid my closet, will slash a guy’s tires for you. And Beth will always talk me out of it and help you do things the right way, but you can’t keep a secret. It’s like you forget what’s a secret and what’s not.”
Danielle rubs the back of her neck sheepishly. “Well ... yeah, but still!”
“If anyone told the university, Adrian would have been fired and I could have been expelled,” I say gently. “And I thought it was just sex at first. I mean, I’m still wrapping my head around the fact that we spend Fall break together.”
“You what!?” they both yell.
I shake my head. “Wait, Beth, you knew before the frat party and the drugging and ...”
“Yeah. I considered telling you in the morning when you woke up, but you looked so guilty and upset already, I couldn’t do it. In all honesty, I read through a lot of texts. It was really easy to put the pieces together. It just confirmed everything,” she shrugs. “But when I saw how he texts you, how much he worries over your safety, and how professional hetriedto be in class ...”
“Wait, so your necklace?” Danielle asks as I keep tugging on it, tightening it around my neck again and again. “Is it choking you?”
I blush. “He gave it to me. It’s kind of kinky, but it’s us. I tug on it out of habit now.”
I tell them about how he reads to me, what happened with Sarah, the PG and G rated bits about our trip, but both girls look at each other, then pounce on me. “Details! Details!”
“Is his dickhuge?” Danielle gushes.
“You said he’s kinky, what kind of kinky? Are we talking rough, leather, choking, pet play, something more intense?” Beth demands.
I laugh and shove at them. “I’m not telling!”
“Oh, you have to!” Danielle argues.
Beth steals my phone and starts scrolling through texts. I try to catch her, but Danielle sits on me. We laugh as they tease me, reading our messages and treating it like Adrian is just a guy. Once we stop laughing, we lay on the floor together.
“I’m glad you finally said something,” Beth admits. “I was starting to think you never would.”
“I’m so sorry. I hated lying. Even saying he was from Tinder felt wrong,” I admit. “I wanted to tell you both so badly, but I didn’t want him to get fired.”
“Wait, did he transfer because of you?” Danielle asks. “If so, you guys must be serious.”
“Of course they’re serious! They’ve been dating for four months. I bet he’s already dropped the “I love you”,” Beth giggles. “Did your head explode?”
“I called him ‘boyfriend’ to his face for the first time on break,” I say. “Like I said, wrapping my head around this has been a lot. I really like him, but I thought we’d have to keep thisa secret until I graduated and now I don’t know what to do with myself.”
