Chapter 21 Lili
Twenty-One
Lili
“Lili, Lili! Wake up!”
I’ve always been a light sleeper, the kind of person whose eyes pop wide open in the middle of the night when the neighbor’s
dog barks once from inside their house. So when a deep male voice calls my name, inches away from my face, I nearly jump through
the roof.
Of his truck
Wren’s sunlit truck.
Oh no.
And I’m touching him, I’m practically snuggled into his side with his arm draped around my shoulders.
In an instant, I jerk back to my side of the truck, pulling the center console back down between us.
In unison, we both dive for our phones. I only have one missed message.
Mom: I’m exhausted and about to fall asleep in here with Goldie. Do you mind taking my room tonight? Oh and I’ll explain about
all the towels tomorrow.
I sigh in relief. She doesn’t know I didn’t come home.
Wren, however, is frantically scrolling through his phone, and I’m still close enough to see his screen.
Dad: It’s late. Are you staying at Tate’s?
He opens another conversation.
Tate: Your dad called looking for you. I told him you were crashing at my house. Where are you?
Tate: I’m worried here, man. Did you go back and pick up Eryn? Text me.
Tate: I’m not messing around here. Call me now.
Tate: If you’re dead I’m going to be so mad.
Tate: I’m texting Eryn.
Tate: I made it worse.
He mutters something and taps Eryn’s thread.
Eryn: What’s going on? No one knows where you are.
Eryn: You’re scaring me right now.
Eryn: I’m picking up Tate. We’re going to drive around and see if we can spot your truck. Please be okay.
His thumbs fly across the screen, tapping out a response.
Wren: I’m here. I’m fine. I fell asleep working on the research project and only just now checked my messages.
He drops his phone down between us, running both hands through his hair. Neither of us speaks.
I can’t believe we fell asleep.
Wren hasn’t mentioned me to Tate and Eryn yet, but what will they say when they find out we were together all night? I press
my face into my hands. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.” But he won’t look at me, and his hands are still tangled in his hair.
“I remember being tired but not falling asleep.” And definitely not on him. “Do you?”
Another head shake. “Are you okay? Your mom?”
I shake my head. “She doesn’t know.”
Wren’s phone dings. He grabs it so fast I don’t see the screen. He taps something in response, then starts the truck.
“I’ll take you home.”
My hand shoots out to cover his when he reaches for the gear shift. “You can’t. If I show up now, my mom will know I didn’t
come home. Right now she probably just thinks I left early.” I lower my hand. “I can’t go back until this afternoon.”
He fists his hand on his knee. “Tate and Eryn are meeting me at the museum. I can’t show up with you before I’ve had a chance
to explain.”
My brain is racing at this point, searching for a way out of this mess for both of us. “Drop me off somewhere on the way—a
café or something. I’ll just come in later like I always do.”
His gaze locks onto mine, his expression serious as he takes me in. “In the same clothes you wore yesterday?” He breathes
out, muttering a curse. “And I smell like you.”
“You what?”
“I smell like you.” His voice is louder now, but tight with frustration. “You were pressed against me all night. Your perfume—whatever
it is—on my clothes, my skin.”
I might’ve argued that he was holding me to him all night, but it’s a pointless distinction in the moment. After what she said last night, Eryn will 100 percent notice.
My voice is hollow, sick. “What do we do?”
He shifts into drive. “The only thing we can do.”
We don’t say a word as he drives, and neither of us reaches for the stereo. There’s nothing to say. I text Mom, implying that
I slipped out early this morning for work without outright lying to her. I don’t feel good about it.
That ill feeling only spreads when Wren parks in front of the museum.
He’s moving immediately, putting his chair back together and sliding out and into it. “Let’s go.”
I stumble as I get out, legs not cooperating. I feel like a zombie, shuffling after him, and my stomach churns at the thought
of facing Eryn. I’d rather deal with my mom’s disappointment than her hurt.
We round the corner, and there they are—Tate sitting atop the gift shop counter, and Eryn with one arm wrapped around herself
and the other up near her mouth, pacing until she catches sight of Wren, and then she’s running to him.
She throws her arms around him before he’s stopped moving, falling into his lap with practiced ease.
It takes a second for his arms to come up around her and cradle her head with one of them.
“I’m sorry I scared you.”
I linger back, trying to remain unseen, but Tate spots me. Unlike Eryn, he wasn’t in a hurry to embrace his missing friend.
And now that he sees me, it’s almost like he’s not surprised as his head drops forward.
“I’m just glad you’re okay.”
“Eryn—”
“I was so worried when Tate texted.”
“Eryn—”
“And then we couldn’t find you, and—”
“Eryn!” It’s the third time Wren has had to say her name, and there’s finally enough force behind it for her to listen. “I’m
fine, but I need to explain.”
“Explain what—?” But then she stills and her eyes find me.
She slides off his lap.
Wren reaches a hand out for her but she steps out of his reach. “I want to explain. I just need you to stop for a second.”
She looks like she’d rather have the mermaid skeleton come to life and chase after her.
Unlike when we were waiting in line for the pizza and she was mostly embarrassed to bring up a wholly unsubstantiated doubt
she had, this time it’s right in front of her with rumpled clothes and uncombed hair. And a scent that she’ll probably never
enjoy again.
The eye contact Wren makes with me is so brief that I almost miss it, but I understand it immediately.
He’s not going to play this off as a series of innocent but unfortunate events. He’s not going to make what happened sound reasonable or even understandable. He’s going to tell her the truth.
We weren’t working the whole time, not even most of the time. We were playing with fire last night. And unintentionally or
not, I woke up in his arms.
It’s not that I want him to lie to her, but the whole truth is only going to hurt her. And him.
So when I see him take that deep breath before it all spills out, I make a choice.
“It’s my fault.”
Everyone turns to look at me. Even Tate lifts his head. “After we dropped you guys off, I got it in my head that we could
still get some research in since it wasn’t that late. Wren wanted to come here.” Not a lie, since he was the one who mentioned
the museum. “Only Tate had the keys, so I thought we could just work in his truck.” I look everywhere except at Wren, but
I can feel his gaze boring into me as I dig my own hole deeper and deeper, all while trying to keep him as far from it as
possible. “I don’t think he thought he had a choice; I certainly didn’t offer him one. The next thing we knew, it was morning.”
Now, I look at him, meeting his stare head-on with what I can only hope is an apologetic expression. “I’m really sorry, Wren.”
I should never have put him in this position.
“I’m sorry to you guys too.” I glance between Eryn and Tate.
“But nothing happened, please believe that.” Wren’s eyes narrow when I turn to him.
“And I know you wanted to take me home first and explain everything on your own, but I couldn’t let you do that.
This was all my fault, start to finish. You shouldn’t have to take the blame I deserve. ”
I hold my breath after that, waiting for Eryn to say something. It feels like a full minute goes by before she speaks.
“It sounds like it wasn’t anybody’s fault. And I believe that nothing happened, of course I do.” Then she’s moving toward
me, and she doesn’t stop until she’s hugging me, maybe a little more stiffly than she did yesterday, but she doesn’t pull
away. Instead, she says something beyond mind-boggling. “Thank you for coming with him and explaining everything.”
My throat is too thick to speak, so I just nod.
“I’m just relieved that everyone’s okay. We didn’t even know we were supposed to be worried about you too.” Her expression
falters for a moment. “Oh no, your mom. Is she freaking out? Does she even know you’re okay?”
I’m finding it incredibly hard to talk when faced with this much unreasonable kindness, so I’m grateful when Wren answers
for me.
“Her mom fell asleep early and now she thinks Lili just slipped out before she woke up.”
Eryn looks relieved. For me.
“Well, at least that’s something. I wasn’t sure if we were just the first stop on the whole apology/explanation tour.”
It is seriously a gut punch when she smiles at me like I didn’t just spend the night in her boyfriend’s arms.
Then, after a few more words, she kisses Wren on the cheek, but there’s a brief hesitation before she pulls away. “Maybe keep
a permanent set of museum keys with you from now on.”
I’ve stayed silent throughout all of it, and I have no words when Tate tugs on my sleeve. “I could use some help in the back room.”
I turn to follow him, but not before catching Wren’s eyes over Eryn’s shoulder.
He almost looks sorry.
And I can’t decide for what.