Click to Subscribe - By L. M. Augustine Page 0,33

what to say, and I need that too. Fuck love. Fuck all of this. We’re best friends. I can’t stay apart from her over something this stupid. She’s too important to me for that.

As soon as the words leave my mouth, Cat’s lips purse into a thin line, and I can’t detect any emotion from her. God, she has a great poker face. But me? Not so much. I can feel the warmth settling on my cheeks already, and I know—just know—I’m blushing. And hard.

This near to me, I can feel Cat’s body inching closer and closer to mine. I see her lips, open and soft, sliding in closer to my jaw... And that hyperawareness scares the hell out of me. I’ve never noticed these things before.

Finally, Cat opens her mouth to speak. “Interesting,” is all she says.

My heart sinks. “Interesting?”

“Interesting,” she confirms, forcing a slight nod.

Here and there crickets chirp behind us and I can hear the distant hum of a car on a nearby road somewhere. It’s cold out, freezing cold, but my skin is so hot from being near Cat that I barely even register it. I release my grip on her arm, shaking my head. “That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

I sigh. “What?” I mutter, because by the blankness of her face, the subtle, sharp edge to her words, I can tell she’s angry. She has reason to be angry, dammit. I was an idiot. An asshole. Look where that got me.

“What do you mean, ‘what?’”

“Are we seriously going to do this?”

“Do what?”

I laugh, annoyed, and throw my head back. “I deserved that.”

“You did.”

I kick the ground. “Dammit, Cat! Why are we treating each other like enemies? We aren’t! We’re best friends, but we just… I just…” I close my eyes, gathering the energy to continue. “I don’t want us to turn out like this,” I finally say.

Before I even realize what’s happening, my fingers reach out and brush her arm. I feel the searing warmth of her skin, then a tingle down my spine, and something else too. Something… I jump back, not wanting to know what it was. I shudder, and she just sighs.

“Could you be any more obvious about it?” she says.

I open and close my mouth before saying, “Probably.”

“You’re an idiot,” she says.

I force a laugh. “I know.”

“I’m glad. I thought I was going to have to explain to you why, and you know how thick-headed you are.” Then, she smiles to herself, a distant kind of smile that I can’t possibly place. She shakes her head, and the look disappears in a flash. “But, at least, you’re a cute idiot.”

I let a little grin slip onto my lips. “I am?”

“Unfortunately, yes, you are. It’s just about the only thing you have going for you at this point.”

“Not true.”

“So true.”

I roll my eyes. A slight breeze whistles past us and I feel the goosebumps prickling across the skin on my arm. My eyes lock on hers. Suddenly, it’s just Cat and me and nothing but darkness.

I shift my gaze to my feet. “I miss you,” I whisper, letting the wind carry my words, because this close to her, I know she can hear me. I can feel her, can almost anticipate her touch, her smile, and I know from the bottom of my heart that I really do miss her.

“I miss you too,” she says, her eyes so big and genuine. “But I also miss us. Us… before.”

“I know.” I find myself nodding. “Me too.” Then, “Think we can go back to being friends?”

She hesitates. A look crosses her eyes—a glimmer of something that looks like… regret?—but it’s gone the second it comes. “Yeah,” she finally breathes, turning her head back to the car. “I… I can do that, I think.”

The air is cool all around, but between us, with each other so close, it’s all warmth.

“Good,” I say. “That sounds… nice. Being best friends again is nice. But promise me you won’t try anything?”

“Like what?” A devilish look flashes across her lips.

“You know the answer to that,” I say, my lips curling. It feels good to be smiling with her again, like a weight I didn’t even know I was holding has been lifted off my chest.

“I don’t,” she says, feigning innocence, but I can see the faint trace of a grin on her lips. “Enlighten me, West Ryder.”

I laugh softly. “Well, when mommie and daddie love each other very much, they…”

“They what? They eat pizza together?”

“Yes, Cat Davenport, when mommie and daddie love