A sly, mischievous grin spread across her face, the kind of grin that made me want to bury myself under my blankets and disappear. The kind of grin that told me exactly what she was thinking. “And how was it? When I tried to get Kyle to go back into his brother’s room to ask about the kiss, he refused to.”
“It was fine.”
“Just fine? The world didn’t spin? Or stop spinning?”
I wasn’t sure whether she was asking me that seriously or not. I mean, when Calum’s lips had been on mine, I’d felt a lot of odd things, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say that…
She must not have wanted a real answer to that, for she went on, “Calum said he had a good time. He likes you, Bree. Kyle told me he’s mad at himself for messing up your first date.” And then, when Michelle said what she said next, I felt like I was punched in the gut: “He wants to see you again.”
You might be wondering why I felt punched in the gut. That wasn’t a good way to feel, after all, but it was the only way I could describe how I felt hearing Michelle say that. It couldn’t be true. Calum must’ve known Kyle was only spying for Michelle, who would come home and tell me everything. He was just being nice. He didn’t really want to see me again.
Michelle got up, climbing onto my bed with me. “I know what you’re thinking,” she said, “but he does. Calum wouldn’t say he wants to see you again and not mean it. He’s not like that.”
I shook my head once. “He’s going back home sooner or later, so it doesn’t matter.”
“Dude, a few hours away isn’t that far. Now, if we lived in California and he lived in New York, that would be different. Come on, Bree. You have a car. He’s got one, too. A few hours is nothing. Plus, you know, cell phones have been a thing for a while now—” She stopped when I whacked her with my pillow, giggling.
“I just…” I trailed off, once again hugging my pillow. “Why would he want to continue to see me when there are tons of women closer to home that are better than me?”
Michelle responded to that by yanking my pillow out of my hands and hitting me on the back of the head with it. “Shut up,” she said. “Don’t think like that. The worst that could happen is you try to go long distance and it doesn’t work. Sometimes things happen. That’s life.”
Getting a lecture from my eighteen-year-old sister again. Wonderful.
What she did not understand was that I’d rather not go through that heartbreak. I’d rather not try and fail.
My phone buzzed, and before I remembered who it could possibly be, I went to pick it up, to glance at the screen. Mason’s name appeared, along with a snarky and jealous message about how, if he was miserable last night thinking about me on my date, I should be miserable, too. That it was only fair.
Dear God, that one was ridiculous.
Michelle watched me, saw my reaction to the message. “Who’s that? Is that Calum?”
I met her inquisitive stare, suddenly realizing I was smiling. Oops. I set my phone down before I responded to him. “No, it’s…it’s someone else.”
“Someone else? Another boy? Please tell!”
I shushed her, not wanting Mom or Dad to hear. “No one,” I said. “Just a boy I have to work on a group project with.”
“You were smiling at your phone,” she said. “You don’t smile like that to just another boy. You like him. Is that why you’re hesitant about Calum?”
“I do not like him.”
Michelle smirked, as if she knew something I didn’t. “What’s his name?”
“Mason.”
“Is Mason funny? Tell me about him.”
I knew my sister would not leave this alone until I told her everything she wanted to know about him, so I heaved a long sigh and did just that. I told her how we’d met, how he’d been late to class one day. I told her how insistent he’d been about sitting beside me after that, how he’d basically forced himself to be my partner. She was not too thrilled to hear that we’d already met outside of class, that I’d kept him from her for this long.
I did not tell her what Mason told me, though—that he was jealous of my date, and everything else he’d said. I also kept the morning hot chocolate routine to myself, too, figuring it’d be best. This way, it would sound like Mason and I were just classmates trying to do a stupid group project.
“Sounds like he likes you,” Michelle remarked with a sly grin.
Ugh, it sounded like that, even with me keeping a few choice things to myself? What the hell.
“He does not,” I said, even though a teeny, tiny part of me hoped it was true. I had no idea why Mason and Calum made me feel these things, but they did. I hated it, because I knew, eventually, I’d be let down, destroyed, my heart torn out of my chest and ripped into a dozen pieces, whether they were purposefully cruel to me or not.
I was more fragile than most people, I think.
“Why don’t you invite him over here to work on that project of yours, then?” Michelle suggested. “Be alone while you two work and see what happens. I bet I’m right.”
I wanted to crawl into a hole and hide from my know-it-all sister. “And if you are? What about Calum?”
“What about him? You’re not exclusive yet, so as far as I’m concerned, you can date anyone you want right now. Maybe it’ll make him jealous. Maybe it’ll make him want to ask
