Chapter 30
Brielle
Dad had been right when he told me it’d eventually all blow over and people would move on. It was like Hollywood, he’d said. One day, the news was bursting with the recent break-up of so-and-so and so-and-so, and then the next week, no one cared anymore.
“The most important thing,” Dad had said, “is that you rebuild trust with your mom and me.”
I was surprised Dad hadn’t grounded me. Or taken away my phone. I was weirded out when he put my doorknob back on my bedroom door, and even more confused when he took Reece’s Nerf gun away and told him he’d lost the privilege of shooting his sister.
It did come out that Reece had known about the fake dating scheme. Maybe that’s why Dad took the Nerf gun away. Or maybe that’s why Dad didn’t get super tough on me.
I don’t know.
All I know is that my mom said that Dad had told her sometimes the best consequences were having to live with the consequences of our actions.
What were my consequences?
Well, Jenessa for one. She refused to talk to me anymore because I’d—and I quote— “ruined my dreams of the perfect romance.”
One could argue that having Jenessa not talk to me wasn’t too awful a consequence, but the weird thing was, now that I didn’t have Brooks hanging with me every spare second of my day, I actually missed Jenessa’s nonstop chatter.
Then there was Claire. She seemed to understand, but she admitted she was hurt I hadn’t trusted her with the truth—and she meant, all the way back at the beginning.
“You know, if you’d just told me that I was getting on your nerves, pressuring you about guys, I would’ve backed off.”
I suppose I could’ve been more honest way back before I’d ever typed my dream guy’s description into AI.
Aunt Elle and Aunt Tracy? They were another matter.
So were the twin aunts. All four of them descended on me at different times and through different avenues.
Aunt Tracy texted me that she was “disappointed you weren’t honest.” Dad happened to see the text and called Aunt Tracy, telling her not to put so much pressure on me to be something I wasn’t.
Aunt Elle actually stopped by, and for whatever reason, was so enamored with the drama of it all, I think she looked at the whole situation as Part 2 of my romantic adventures.
At least she didn’t ask for her fifty dollars back.
Brooks had never taken me to dinner, and I didn’t know what he had done with it.
I did get a text from my cousin Jake.
Tough luck. I could tell you actually liked him.
Jake. For all his goofing around, he had a way of seeing the truth before anyone else in the family.
Jadon was Jadon. He just snickered the next time he saw me and then advised me to try dating service instead of AI next time.
“Them thar farmer boys be the real thang,” he drawled.
I slugged him.
He fell over.
Reece flew on top of him.
Jake followed.
Sunday afternoon became a mosh pit of the boys wrestling while I opened a new Pepper Basham romance and decided to drown my sorrows in someone else’s happily-ever-after.
Then there was Lia. Gosh, I love her so much.
She was easier to talk to than anyone I knew, because she got me.
She also knew everything. She knew my feelings.
My heart. The pieces of me that were still crumbled on the floor, even though two weeks had passed since Brooks and I were “outed” to the school—and the world.
“So, have you even talked to Brooks this week?” she asked.
It was after eleven p.m., and my entire family was in bed. So was I, but I still had Lia on the phone. She actually let me see her face tonight, too, instead of her ceiling fan.
“Well, yeah, I’ve talked to him,” I answered. “I have to, because of our project.”
“Has he finished Pride and Prejudice?” Lia sounded incredulous.
“I guess?” I shrugged even as I lay beneath my covers, my stuffed monkey tucked as close to my chest as I could get him. “He said he did. I dunno. We don’t say much. Just about the project, and then we do most of the work on our own.”
We were both quiet for a while. Then Lia ventured, “Sooooooo, are you ever going to be honest with Brooks?”
“I haven’t really earned the blue ribbon for being honest this semester,” I sighed.
“It’s the only thing hanging out there that still needs to be said,” Lia urged.
“It doesn’t need to be said,” I denied. “Sometimes, it’s better to keep your feelings to yourself.”
“But what if Brooks feels the same way and you’re both just in misery, missing each other, but you both refused to say anything?”
“He doesn’t feel the same way,” I retorted.
“How do you know?” Lia challenged.
“I just do.”
And that was how it was going to have to be. Give me about ten more romance novels to soothe my pain, and I’d get over Brooks.
I had to.
Because he was already over me.
Brooks
“Bruh, you’re gonna have to get your head in the game,” Reece’s knuckles met my bicep.
“Sorry,” I muttered.
“You’re like a moping puppy.” Reece sat down on the bench in the dugout after practice.
“No I’m not.”
“Sure.” Reece nodded, bending over to change out his cleats for his tennis shoes. “Coulda fooled me.”
“Hey. I’m good,” I reassured him. “I just didn’t sleep well last night.”
“You’re pining for my sister, huh?”
I gave Reece the side-eye. “Pining? What, does she have you reading Pride and Prejudice too? No one says ‘pining’ anymore.”
“Longing. You’re looooooonging,” Reece dragged out the word like he’d heard someone else do it before and was copying them.
“I’m not longing, either. I’m just—focusing on the game this Saturday.”
“First game of the season.” Reece slapped my shoulder. “We got this.”
“Yeah, we do.” I agreed.
“Brielle will be there.” Reece offered up that piece of information like it was candy.
“Cool,” I said.
“She’ll be watching the game,” he added.
“No duh.”
“She’ll be watching you.”
“Knock it off, Walters.” He was starting to annoy me.
“When are you going to be honest about stuff and just tell my sister you actually do have a thing for her?”
“What?” I frowned. There was no way Reece was going to get me to admit that out loud. I wasn’t going to put Brielle through any more unnecessary drama.
Reece’s eyebrow winged upward. “You’re going to deny it?”
“I’m going to say ‘no comment,’ and leave it there.” I stood up and grabbed my duffel bag.
“Ooookay,” Reece said.
I left him behind then. I mean, he was becoming a good pal, but the whole bringing-up-his-sister thing? Not cool. Not cool at all.
It was time to let it die.
I had a game to play on Saturday. That was my focus. It should have always been my focus.