We Don't Talk Anymore (The Don't Duet #1) - Julie Johnson Page 0,46
the boys in our grade?”
Ophelia snorts. “True. But I don’t care about a stupid crown anyway. My dress is Alexander McQueen. That’s as close to royalty as I need to be on prom night.”
Odette glances at me. “Did you pick out a dress yet?”
“Dress?” I grimace. “I don’t even have a date.”
Brakes screech. The Range Rover slams to a stop in the middle of the road as both twins turn fully around in their seats to face me. Their mouths are agape in identical expressions of horrified disbelief.
“Prom is two weeks away, Valentine,” Ophelia says gravely.
“I know.”
“Most girls locked in their dates ages ago,” Odette informs me, equally grave. “We’re going with a set of twins from St. John’s.”
I laugh. “Seriously? Twins with twins?”
“Cute, right?” Ophelia winks. “But honestly… we assumed Archer asked you.”
“Totally assumed,” Odette agrees.
The laughter withers on my tongue. “At one point, I thought he might… but lately things have been so weird between us…”
Odette’s nose scrunches up in thought. “Weird how, exactly?”
I shrug.
“Come on. Spill it.” Ophelia puffs her vape again. Before I can answer, a car pulls up behind us, beeping angrily at the roadblock we’ve created. Unruffled, she merely rolls down her window and waves them onward. The dark sedan zips around the Range Rover with an angry squeal of rubber.
“Get out of the damn road!” the driver yells as he passes.
The twins appear unfazed.
“Anyway,” Ophelia says, lips twisting. “You two hooked up, is that it? Ruined the sanctity of your friendship by finally screwing?”
“No! Absolutely not.”
“It’s fine. You can tell us. Everyone at school already thinks you two have been doing it for ages.”
Great.
My teeth grit. “We didn’t hook up.”
“Never?”
“Never.”
“Not even once?”
“Not even once.” I sigh. “We’re just friends!”
“Maybe you were. But at some point, one of you must have started wanting to be more.” Ophelia shrugs. “That’s the only explanation for the new awkwardness between you.”
“It is not the only explanation!” I insist. “There are plenty of other reasons—”
“Oh my god!” Odette cuts me off in a gleeful tone. “You, like, totally love him! Oh my god. Look at her cheeks burning, O! Do you see it?”
Her twin nods. “Totally see it.”
My cheeks flood with even more color. “I don’t love him.”
“Look, it’s okay. You don’t have to lie. We won’t tell anyone.” Ophelia pauses, growing contemplative. “I am sorry, though. Falling for a friend is the worst kind of painful if they don’t feel the same.”
Odette nods. “Unrequited love… ugh. The angst. The torturous, torturous angst.”
“For the last time,” I practically growl. “I don’t love Archer. He definitely does not love me. We’re just—”
“Friends?” Ophelia finishes doubtfully. “Right.”
Odette’s eyes are brimming with sympathy. “Have you told him how you feel?”
I glance sharply out the window. I suppose there’s no use lying. They don’t believe me anyway. “No,” I murmur softly. “He doesn’t know.”
“And you think… he doesn’t return your feelings?”
I shake my head. “Definitely not.”
“But you’ll never know for sure unless you tell him,” Ophelia points out. “Maybe he’s hiding his feelings too, because he’s just as afraid to cross the line between friendship and… something more. Maybe he’s scared you’ll reject him and it’ll ruin everything.”
Her words tumble inside my head, stirring up feelings I’m not sure I’m equipped to process. Giving me foolish hope for something that’s never going to happen.
“He slept with Sienna,” I say bluntly, grounding myself back in cold reality. “At the party last weekend. I think that makes it pretty clear he doesn’t want to be with me.”
“Oh…” The twins cluck their sympathy. “We didn’t know.”
For a moment, the car is completely silent. I stare out the window, trying to keep a tight leash on my tears. I will not waste any more on a boy who doesn’t deserve them.
“You know, this is exactly why we don’t have any male friends,” Odette announces, shattering the quiet. “Lines get crossed. Feelings get hurt. Sexual tension gets in the way… Such a mess.”
Her twin glances at her and snorts. “O, we don’t have any male friends because we always sleep with them.”
“That’s true, too.” Odette pouts against the glass rim of her lemonade bottle. It’s almost empty. “Did Archer ask someone else to prom?”
I shake my head. “I don’t think so.”
“Is he planning to?”
“No idea.”
“Hmmm.” She tilts her head to the side. “Well, if he doesn’t get his act together, we can definitely scrounge you up a date.”
“You guys don’t need to do that…”
The twins make eye contact. I listen in amazement as they fly through a