Chapter 9 #2
“So,” my best friend pipes up, suddenly now standing right beside me. “I think you and I need to talk.”
“Is this the part where I get a call telling me my sister was in an accident?”
“Your sister is fine. Spill.”
I tilt my head back as a groan rips from my throat. “Did Finn not tell you everything?”
Wren gives her brother a look. “He did.”
My heart stops. “Okay?”
“Mmm-hmm.” She gives me the look that always, always gets me talking. Finn is very aware of the power of the “Wren stare,” and tries to hop to my rescue straightaway, but I’m more than capable of handling my best friend.
“I would’ve thought you’d be thrilled. You were one of the many people rooting for this.”
“I was … like three days ago, and then boom, this happened.”
“Wrong,” Finn belts out before placing a steaming cup of coffee in my hands along with a kiss at my temple. I push down the flutters in my stomach that appear every time and wait for him to elaborate.
“How the hell am I wrong?” Wren asks.
“You’ve been rooting for us since you were eighteen. Or have you forgotten that I’m your brother and I lived with you once upon a time?”
“You live with me now.”
“My point still stands,” he counters.
“Okay, so maybe I was hoping the two of you would get together.” Wren slumps down onto my couch and looks up at me with big dark eyes.
She and Finn look so similar even though their features couldn’t be any more different.
Wren’s eyes are large and innocent whereas Finn’s are sultry and almond-shaped.
Wren’s face is all softness and warmth, but her brother’s are sharp lines and cold angles.
Even their skin tones are different — Wren’s skin being a little darker than her brother’s.
The only thing they share is their curly hair, both soft and dark and messy.
“I just am so blindsided by this and a bit hurt that it’s been eight months and not one of you said anything,” she says.
“I mean, you told me nothing happened after the kiss!”
Shit.
“You told her about the kiss?!” Finn exclaims, his arm moving from my lower back.
“Of course I did! She’s my best friend, Finley.”
“So? I didn’t tell anyone.”
“Wrong,” Wren interrupts. “I know for a fact that you told Sam. We’ve been talking about it.”
“You bitch!” I cry out with a smile. “You were really going to try and guilt-trip me when you did the exact same thing?”
“I wasn’t going to guilt-trip, just, you know … do enough to get an apology kiss out of it.”
We both stare at him like he’s lost his mind, my reason for doing so different to Wren’s.
There is no way she is also looking at him like she can’t believe he’s acting out this lie so smoothly that even I feel like he’s telling the truth.
How the hell is he doing this? This is his sister; he is lying to his sister and it’s like he is completely oblivious to it.
“Wren.” I take a seat beside my best friend.
If Finn can do this, so can I. I grab her hand and hold it between both of mine.
“I’m really sorry that we never said anything.
I’m even more sorry that I lied to you.” Am still lying to you.
“I was just terrified that it would put pressure on things. On Finn. On me. On us. I didn’t want anything to change.
Nothing really has, if you think about it.
I still can’t stand being around him.” Partly true, at least.
Wren watches me, assesses me until I’m forcing myself not to squirm in my seat.
The weight of my lies and my deceit drag me further into the couch.
This isn’t the first time I’ve lied to Wren, I’m ashamed to say.
When we started college and I lost my virginity, I lied to her about it for a week because I was so ashamed to tell her that it was the shittest night of my life.
When we graduated, I lied and told her that I had a job straight out the bat, when the truth was, I was unemployed for almost two months.
And when I told her that I kissed her brother, I lied to her and told her that it meant nothing to me, that there was absolutely nothing about the moment Finn and I shared that changed anything between us.
I’ve lied to her a total of four times now, and this has to be the absolute worst one so far, mostly because to me it just seems so …
unnecessary. Out of everyone, surely Wren deserves to know the truth?
She could help us keep up our ruse. Yet, without even talking to him about it, I’m immediately going with whatever Finn decides.
Guilt rips through me as the reality of my choices steps up to the stage.
I’ve just chosen Finn over my best friend.
And he’s chosen me over his sister. What kind of people are we?
Who are we that these are the choices we’re making without even batting an eyelid?
Wasn’t one of the main reasons for us avoiding a real relationship all these years because we were trying to protect Wren?
Wren’s face softens as she places a hand on top of mine. “I would have never let anything change between us, Lee. I would have just been happy that both my brother and best friend are happy.” I flip my hand over so I can hold hers. “But because it’s all happened out of nowhere, I’m now struggling.”
My worried gaze meets Finn’s. I don’t think he expected this kind of reaction from anyone in his family. Out of the corner of my eye, I see his hand tap his leg three times.
“What can we do to ease your mind?” I ask, my eyes refusing to leave Finn.
She’s contemplative as she scans the both of us. Eventually, she sighs and says, “Just promise me that this is for real, because I don’t want to get excited for you both and it just happens to be a lie.”
My mouth goes dry and fuses my lips together in protest. Yes, I’m lying to her, but to promise that I’m not? I can’t do it, and the look I send to Finn conveys just that. Making me promise is asking too much of me. Standing out of his sister’s eyeline, he nods.
“You have my word, Wrennie. This is real, I promise.”