I looked at him, and for a second, the weight in my chest was unbearable. “Even if…?”
“Even if you’re datingothers.”
Bubba knocked on my window. Coop didn’t let go of my hand.
I held up one finger—wait—then turned back to Coop.
“Are you sure?”
His gaze flicked away. “Do you not want to go out with me? If that’s it?—”
“Stop,” I said. “It’s not that. It’s just—”Now I’m lying to my best friend, sleeping with a guy they apparently all hate, and breaking every rule I thought I’d made for myself.They were all coming at me with offers like this was some kind of game. Like my heart wasn’t involved at all.
“You’ve figured out we all like you,” Coop said softly. “A lot.”
That was definitely part of it. A part I hadn’t been ready for.
“But we’ve been friends forever. If I mess this up—” We hadn’t even repaired the damage from their choices and mine as yet. They all wanted to change it again.
“We’ll make it work. Just… make time for me, too? Maybe Monday, after planning and applications?”
I squeezed his hand. “Okay.”
But guilt gnawed at the back of my throat.
Because I already had no idea how to fix what I’d broken.
I pulled my hand away gently and grabbed my backpack. Coop got out with me, rounding the front of the car. Bubba stood a few feet away, watching us, hands in his jacket pockets. His brows pulled together as his gaze flicked between us, then stopped—just for a second—on my neck.
I resisted the urge to touch it.
The air seemed to shift between us, thick with things unsaid. Bubba didn’t smile. He didn’t tease. He didn’t even speak. Just looked at me like he wanted to, then looked away instead.
They were both close—Coop on my right, Bubba on my left—but neither of them touched me. Not a brush of the hand. Not a hug. Just space, tight and uncomfortable. Like I was radioactive. Like they didn’t know where to step.
We started toward the school building in silence. Each step made my skin itch. I hated how self-conscious I suddenly was—howvisiblethe hickey must be. How much they noticed. How much theydidn’tsay.
Inside, the halls were still mostly quiet. Early.
Archie was waiting at our usual table in the cafeteria with coffee for everyone. He had his in one hand, phone in the other. He looked up when he saw us, smile twitching onto his face—but it faltered the second he saw me.
Then I sawJake.
He was sitting at the end of the table, two boxes of donuts next to him. His jaw was tight. His expression unreadable.
My stomach dropped.
Because all of them were here.
And the way they looked at me—every one of them—made my chest squeeze tight. Like they were waiting for something. Like they werebracing.
Archie’s gaze flicked to my neck, then away. Bubba didn’t look at me at all. Coop’s hand was back in his pocket.
Jake didn’t say a word.
And I stood there, halfway between all of them, like a pulled thread in a sweater. One wrong move, and the whole thing would unravel.
Chapter
