Change of Hart (Wells Ranch, #3)(13)
I refused to look across the circle at him. If I watched him walk into a closet with a girl, I’d probably throw up gummy bears and Cheez-Its all over this nice hardwood. Simply thinking about it made it impossible to focus on anything beyond the rushing blood behind my eardrums, and the hazy vignette around my field of vision.
Was I about to pass out?
“Blair,” Megan shrieked.
After a beat, Cass tapped my foot with hers. “It’s your turn. You okay to go?”
I blinked away the blurry vision, swallowing the hard lump in my throat when I realized why everyone was staring in my direction. Denny was standing by the closet, eyes trained to the floor, white knuckles gripping the door frame.
The only thing worse than Denny being in a closet making out with a random girl was him being in that closet with me.
I shakily scrambled to my feet, my entire body on fire as I moved across the room. Although not a single cell in my body wanted to be in a closet with Denver Wells, it would be more embarrassing to be the one person who refused to participate. So I stepped into the small space, which was humid with sweat and hardly large enough for two people, and Denny slid in after.
When the door shut, Megan’s voice permeated the air. “Seven minutes starts now!”
I don’t know how long we stood face-to-face, in perfect darkness, with only the sounds of our breathing. But finally, Denny lightly cleared his throat. “It smells really bad in here. Like fried egg and bologna sandwiches left in a hot car for two days.”
“That’s very specif—”
“Don’t ask me how I know what that smells like,” he interrupted.
Scrunching my nose, I held back the smile threatening to blow the lid off my sour mood. I missed him, and I hated how difficult that made it to hate him.
His hot, peppermint-laced breath hit my cheek with a long exhale. “Are you mad at me or something?”
“Yeah, I’m mad at you or something. You’ve been a real…piece of moldy cheese lately.” I bit my lip to stop from tearing a strip off him.
“Moldy cheese? How have I been the moldy cheese when you’re the one avoiding me every day? The only time I seem to exist is when you glare at me in math class.”
He couldn’t be serious.
“I’m avoiding you because you were rude to me on the first day. I thought we were friends, Denny.”
“We are friends.”
“Except when you’re with your other friends,” I mumbled, swiping a leaky tear just before it slid down my cheek.
“Blair,” he breathed out my name, and his warm hands grabbed hold of my upper arms. “I didn’t mean to. They’re just…well, you know how those guys are.”
“Yeah.” I sniffled. Realizing I was crying, I wiped the back of my hand across my eyes. “I know how they are.”
“I-I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” I said to convince both of us. “I’m fine.”
“I can tell you’re crying. You wouldn’t be crying if you were fine.” He exhaled hard. “Okay…there’s something my mom always says when we’re too scared to fess up to something bad. It’s like a Get Out of Jail Free card. She lets us have five seconds of honesty.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that…Pretend I broke a vase. I get five seconds where I can tell her the truth, and there won’t be any consequences or questions. Even if I was doing something I shouldn’t have, like practicing trick roping in the living room, she can’t get mad at me if I fess up during those five seconds. But there’s no passing the blame, so I can’t say ‘I broke it, but that’s only because Jackson told me to swing a rope inside.’?” Denny’s hands glided down my bare arms, leaving a wake of goosebumps he thankfully couldn’t see, before falling away from me completely. “So, Blair, give me your five seconds of honesty.”
I swallowed hard, weaving together a believable half-truth in my mind. Shoving away the sentences that would be too damning. The truth was, his actions hurt me not only because we were friends, but because Denver Wells was my first real crush. Because he made my brain float, my chest ache, and my insides somersault when he was near. Because he was the first person, aside from Cassidy, who seemed to get me.
“You were my best friend all summer. I thought you wouldn’t treat me differently ’cause your popular friends were around. I know how they are…. I didn’t think you were like that. So it hurt.”
I wrapped my arms around myself in a hug, hoping to ease the shakiness in every fiber of my body, and ease the nausea bubbling in my stomach. Maybe it wasn’t the entire truth, but it was a shard of honesty. And despite Denny’s promise not to question me on it, I couldn’t help but fear how he’d react.
“Five seconds of honesty—I’m sorry.” He cleared his throat. “Okay, well…the truth is, those guys made fun of me, saying I liked you because we hung out all summer. It bugged me because…I don’t know. I guess because I thought it was obvious we’re just friends. You’re more like a sister than anything. I was a jerk to you so they’d lay off. But that was very blue cheese of me, and I’m sorry.”
Just friends. A pseudo-sister. Obviously. All those thoughts about kissing him were entirely delusional. I shook my head slowly, wiping the tears collecting on my lower lashes. “Very blue cheese of you.”