Rewind It Back (Windy City, #5)(56)

They have no idea how often we meet on the roof, where she lays on my chest and I play with her hair while we simply talk. Or how I sleep in her room most nights—on the floor, but still. They have no idea that me saying I like her doesn’t exactly encompass how I actually feel about the girl.

“I don’t know why you’re being weird about it,” I say to Luke. “Our friend groups are completely intertwined at this point. Most of these people are your friends too.”

He shakes his head. “That’s my baby sister.”

“Dude, you were sixteen like a year and a half ago.”

“You don’t get it, but you’re lucky you don’t have to deal with figuring out if your friends are actually your friends or if they’re hanging around because they want to get with your sister.” That statement hangs in the air before there’s a loud crash somewhere down the hall. “What the hell?” he groans. “Everyone is sober. Why are they breaking stuff?”

He bolts in that direction, leaving me standing there and feeling like shit.

I want to tell him.

I’ve tried to tell him. I’ve started the conversation so many times this past year, but then I chicken out when he makes some remark about me being his best friend and knowing I’d never betray him by dating Hallie. I think our parents would be cool with it, but Luke . . . I don’t see a day Luke would ever be cool with knowing I have feelings for his sister.

Hallie hasn’t seemed too pressed about it, but she’s made a few comments here and there about wishing she could hold my hand while at school or rest her head on my shoulder during lunch. Things we only do in the privacy of my truck when I’m driving her home after my games, or when we’re alone on the roof.

But honestly, it’s not like we’ve gone much further than that. Part of me is wanting to wait, to attempt to put my feelings on hold. Luke will be off at college in just over a year and maybe he’d care a whole lot less by then. But that means I’ll be gone too, and there hasn’t been a day that’s passed that I haven’t at least thought about kissing her.

I move slowly, I guess. And though I’m a year older than her, I’m equally as inexperienced. Sometimes I wonder if she’s going to get over it. Over me. It’s not like she can tell people that she’s my girlfriend. Hell, I don’t even know if she is my girlfriend. Is she going to get tired of waiting for me to make a move and decide she’d rather be out in the open with someone else?

Fuck, I’ve been so in my head lately, but her sixteenth birthday party isn’t the place for me to be figuring it all out.

She looks so cute tonight, in her knit sweater and short skirt. Ten nails all painted in different colors. Long hair, sparkly hazel eyes, and a smile that lights me up whenever I see it.

Hallie is hugging her friend and saying thank you for a gift when she catches me staring at her from across the room.

She discreetly shoots me a little wink and though I know that’s all I’ll get of her today, I happily take it.

Though we always meet on the roof for her birthday, this year is going to be different. She’s going to be so busy being the center of attention at her sweet sixteen all night that we’re going to have to meet another time.

The living room is crowded with our friends, a mix of people from her sophomore class and my junior. It makes it easy stealing moments with her while at school because our friend group is big and we’re always together.

Luke comes back holding up a broken lamp. “At least it was from my room,” he says, throwing it in the trash and joining me to watch as Hallie opens all her presents. She gets a bunch of art supplies and some makeup. A few CDs which I know she’s stoked about because they’re becoming increasingly difficult to find.

She’s almost done opening all her gifts when the front door opens and a group of guys from the senior class walk in.

I recognize them immediately. They’re mostly football players—one is from the basketball team, and almost all of them are carrying a case or two of beer as they join the party.

The last person through the door is probably the most popular guy at our school—Grant Newcastle. He’s the captain of the football team, senior class president, and I fucking hate him.

He and Hallie are both in the student council, and ever since they planned the winter dance together, he’s been all over her.

“What the hell is he doing here?” I ask Luke, my tone sharp.

He looks at me suspiciously. “What happened to ‘why are you being weird’ and ‘we’re all friends?’ ”

“We’re not friends with that guy.”

Though, I do think Luke might give up a kidney if he could be.

“He asked Hallie to prom yesterday and she felt bad for saying no, so she invited him to her birthday party, I guess.”

I swear my eyes almost explode out of my head. “Excuse me, what?”

“Not sure why you’re yelling at me or what you’re confused about.”

I fully turn, facing him, but he’s still got his attention on the newcomers. “He asked your sister to prom?”

“Yeah.”

“And she said no?”

“Yep.”

“Because you told her to say no or because she didn’t want to go with him?”

Luke shrugs casually, and how he can be so casual about this, I have no fucking clue. “Probably because she assumed I wouldn’t be okay with it and said no before I could. I don’t know for sure.”