22. Kayla
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
KAYLA
“ S o let me get this straight,” Ashlie says, sitting on my couch. We came right from the train to have a mini girl’s night sleepover at my house. She sits cross-legged on the cushion, facing me, while our favorite trashy TV show plays in the background. “Chase has almost kissed you not once, not twice, but three times? And this is the first I’m hearing about it?”
“Yeah…sorry.” I wrinkle my nose. “But to be fair, two of those were on the same night up at camp, about twenty minutes apart…”
“Girl!” She reaches forward and nudges me on the knee. “Start from the beginning. What happened at camp?”
“Besides sitting in his lap on the climbing wall? Nothing,” I say casually, watching her eyes widen.
“Was this a planned sitting or…?”
“No, I didn’t plan to sit in his lap. I didn’t even plan to see him after the tip jar incident, but he’s been everywhere.” I tell her about the awkwardness on the wall, the thumb war around the fire, and the intense moment in front of my cabin. She listens, eyes intensely taking in each anecdote like it’s straight from the gossip column.
“And you like him,” she says, squinting her eyes at me.
“I…don’t know.”
“Oh, don’t give me that. You held his hand the entire way to the bar tonight, and you almost kissed him out on the balcony. He’s cute, he’s your type, and he likes you too.”
“My type?” I ask, raising my eyebrows skeptically. “And what is ‘my type’?”
“You know. Cute, funny, tall, Chase… Your type.” She waves her hand in the air to get her point across.
“ Ugh !” I sigh into my hands. “He is my type, and I hate it.” I do like him. Despite all my attempts to thwart all his attempts, I like him.
Ashlie laughs, shaking her head at my undoing. She nudges my foot with hers. “Why do you hate it? He’s a nice guy.”
“Evan was a nice guy…” I say. I see the humor drain from her face as she realizes what all my hesitation has been about.
“Nice to look at, maybe, but you know damn well Chase isn’t anything like Evan.”
I look at her, quietly waiting for her to convince me otherwise.
“For starters, Chase actually likes you. He’s spent almost every day at the diner just for a couple of minutes to talk to you. Evan only liked the fact that you liked him—always asking you to drop what you had going on to spend time with him and then making you feel bad if you didn’t.”
I sigh, knowing she’s right. Chase even said as much up at camp, and logically, I know this. But emotionally, I’m ready to tuck my tail and run. Three years is a long time, but not long enough for me to forget how hard it was to get back to myself after freshman year.
“Has Chase ever tried to convince you to call out of work?” She gives me a look that tells me she already knows the answer.
“No,” I say quietly.
“Has he ever made you feel bad for being a workaholic?”
“I am not a worka?—”
“Yes, you are. Answer the question. ”
“No,” I whisper again.
“And what did he do when you told him you couldn’t kiss him up at camp?”
I roll my eyes, catching on to her logic. “He respected it and backed away.”
“Exactly. Evan may have been a ‘nice guy’”—she throws her fingers up in air quotes— “but Chase is a good one. He’s met you where you are, patiently waiting for you to let down some of those thick-ass walls when other guys would have been long gone by now. The question isn’t whether you like him. The question is if you’re brave enough to do something about it.” She leans forward and puts a hand over mine, stilling the fingers picking at my thumb. “You deserve to be with someone who treats you well, girl. Evan can’t be your ‘Happily Never After’ forever.”
I let her words settle in around me, relenting to the fact that I can’t hide from my feelings about Chase anymore. My phone buzzes on the coffee table beside me, skittering across the smooth glass at the same time Ashlie’s goes off under her leg. I grab mine, opening it to find a group message.
Chase
Hey there. Are you two busy on the 4th?
My family is having a BBQ and I wanted to invite you.
I look up at Ashlie, who’s already watching me with a smirk on her face.
“Hey,” she says, holding her hands up in a surrendering pose. “It’s up to you. If you want to go, I’ll go with you. If you don’t, I can text him back with some bad excuse.”
She’s giving me an out, testing me to see if I’m brave enough to step away from the shadow of my last failed relationship. I mull it over for several minutes, trying to play out the worst-case scenarios in my head. On one hand, I could give in, give Chase a chance, and get my heart broken.
Again.
On the other hand, I could cut and run, and always wonder what if.
“You’re forgetting to think about the third possibility…” Ashlie’s voice breaks through the mental argument I’m having with myself.
I tip my head, wondering if I was talking out loud without realizing it. “How did you?—”
“You might have everyone else fooled, but I’ve known you for almost eight years. You’re a pessimist and thinking you’re either going to get your heart broken or wonder what could have been. I’m saying, there’s a third possibility you’re not considering.”
“Okay… Are you going to enlighten me or…?” I ask.
“It could all work out. You could end up happy.” Shrugging before leaning over the back of the couch, she digs in her overnight bag. “And here.” She tosses me a small box. I catch it, and immediately throw it back at her upon realizing it’s a box of condoms.
“What the hell, Ash! I don’t—that’s not happening anytime soon.” I fumble my words as I try to recover from the flustered feeling creeping up my neck.
Doubled over, she’s laughing so hard her shoulders shake. “You should have seen your face!” She mimics my expression before cracking up all over again.
I roll my eyes, shaking my head at her before giggles overtake me as well. After a minute, she slides the box back toward me.
“Seriously though, just in case. You’ve got too much going for you, and we’re breaking that Harris family pattern.”
I leave the box against my knee where she’s pushed it and pick up my phone.
Me
We’ll be there. Can I bring anything?
Chase
Apple Pie *smiley face*