Disgusted, I shove her away and use the back of my hand to wipe my mouth. “What the fuck, Carrie? I thought I’d made it plenty clear that I wasn’t interested. I was trying to be nice by not coming right out and saying it, but I realize now that was a mistake. I don’t like you. I’m in love with someone else. Don’t ever touch me again.”
The crowd goes silent, and all I can hear is the roar of blood in my ears. Carrie’s eyes fill with tears, but I can’t find a shred of sympathy.
She took something that wasn’t hers to take, and there’s nothing I can do about it now except hope Indie won’t be hurtwhen she finds out. Because I refuse to keep this from her. Even if I didn’t do anything wrong.
Night ruined, I hand my half-finished beer to Brandon. “I’m out of here, man.”
I should have stayed home and counted down the hours until I could see Indie.
Shit.Part of me has always known she saw that. It was the only thing that made her disappearance make sense. But I couldn’t let myself completely believe it, because it would mean we spent ten years separated by something that it would have taken me two minutes to explain away if she’d let me.
But she didn’t. She disappeared and blocked me, and I never got a chance to tell her what really happened.
“She was perfect, and I just knew I’d never… I couldn’t do it. I didn’t want to spend the whole summer third-wheeling you two. So I called my grandma and asked to spend the summer with her. I flew out the next day.”
“Oh, Rosebud.” I lift my hands and wipe the tears off her cheeks before holding her face. “We’ve wasted so many years.”
She frowns at me. “What?”
“How long did you watch us kiss?”
“What? Why the fuck would I stick around and watch you make out with your girlfriend?” She tries to push me away, but I don’t let her.
“She wasn’t my girlfriend. And if you’d stuck around for more than a few seconds, you would have known that.”
“How was I supposed to know that? Either way, you were kissing some girl, and I didn’t want to cramp your style.”
“I wasn’t kissing her,” I say, frustrated. I’m trying to keep my tone gentle because I can tell what she saw hurt her, but dammit, I spent ten years searching for her because she didn’tstick around long enough to see what was really happening. She simply ran.
“I’m not stupid, Sebastian. I saw you.”
I shake my head. “You saw her kiss me.”
“Same thing,” she growls.
“No, Rosebud. It’s not.” This time my words are gentle. Impossibly so.
“What do you mean?”
“If you’d stuck around, you would have seen me push her away. That girl you saw kissing me? She’d been trying all year to get me to date her, and all year, I shot her down. That night at the bonfire, she had some liquid courage and decided to shoot her shot one last time, despite me telling her, again, that I wasn’t interested.”
Indie’s eyes are wide, and the color drains from her face. “What? No.”
“Yes, sweetheart. I pushed her away and told her she didn’t stand a chance with me because my heart belonged to someone else.”
“Oh, god,” Indie whispers. She’s so pale now, I’m worried she’ll faint.
“You didn’t see me push her away?”
She shakes her head, tears spilling down her cheeks faster now.
I close my eyes and press my forehead to hers. “So that’s why you ran and blocked my number.”
She nods against me.
“Ten years.” I huff out a disbelieving laugh. “Ten fucking years without you.”
She blinks up at me, not speaking, but her expression says enough. Those ten years were just as hard for her. Just as lonely.