“I waited for you,” I whispered, not sure how I could have mistaken every moment of our lives together. “I thought you were waiting for me.”
“Waiting? Of course not…You’re a fucking…You’re a teenager, you’re a…”
“Don’t say sister,” I said, my words now garbled in my throat. “You know that’s not true. We’re different.”
He crossed his arms over his chest and turned his head away so he wasn’t looking at me. Like he couldn’tbearto look at me. “You’re a friend,” he said eventually. “A close family friend. You got something mixed up in your head, and fuck…have you been drinking? So help me God, if you drove here drunk-”
“I haven’t been drinking,” I said. “I’ve been in love with you since I was a kid.”
His face got softer. Less pissed. More pity.
Oh, I realized, that’s how it gets worse. Hepitiesme.
“You’re still a kid. And Nor, I don’t even know where to begin. This thing between us. It’s not love. It’s friendship. That’s all.”
“Nick? Baby, come back to bed. I’m getting cold.”
“Friendship,” I repeated, like I’d never heard the word before. Not love.
“Good friends. Lifelong…friends,” he said gently.
I glared at him. Because in my heart there was no way I could know something so deeply, so fundamentally at my core, and be wrong. It wasn’t possible. Was it?
Suddenly, I couldn’t be here one second longer. He was an asshole and the best night of my life had turned into the worst. I raced down the steps so fast he couldn’t grab me to stop me.
“Nora!” He cried, chasing me. “Come back. You shouldn’t drive when you’re upset.”
I got in the car, my favorite birthday present, and pulled away from the curb with a thump when all four tires reconnected with the road.
Don’t do it, I told myself. Don’t be that girl. It’s bad enough.
But I couldn’t stop myself from looking in the rearview mirror.
Nick stood on the landing, watching me drive away.
2
Nick
Shit.
I watched her pull down the alley and she didn’t even signal at the stop sign before turning left towards home.
Shit.
What a…I didn’t even have a word for it. There were no words for it. But I needed to make sure she got home okay. I needed to…do something.
Shit.
How did I not see that coming? That hand kiss tonight, that had been a lot coming from her, but I just thought it had been the emotions. The car. The toast. The eighteen-year-old of it all. But this…love? And fucking taking her virginity?
Blindsided. Blindsided didn’t even cover it. It was like I’d been hit by a train.
“Nick?” Sheila came out of my bedroom to stand in the doorway in the black lace bra and panties I’d taken off her not too long ago. “What’s going on? Who was at the door?”
No way was I telling Sheila that it had been Nora. “Just a family emergency,” I said. “In fact…”
I couldn’t even look at her right now. Something about Nora being at my door and Sheila standing there in her underwear made me feel like an asshole. Which was bullshit, I knew that. But still, officially, I’d hit my limit on drama.
