"Someone once told me that all your problems could be washed away in the sea. Guess that's not true for me."
One Year Older is a tale of Daya Johnston, whose love story unfolds by the sea during the spring break of her final year of high school. Her...
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Life itself froze after I shared the unfiltered truth that had been buried for a year. Banks's eyes glistened with unshed tears. I wished I could take back every moment that led us there.
"You waited an entire year to tell me this, Daya," he said with a crack in his voice. "Why?"
I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I know, and I'm sorry," I replied. "But I didn't want you to look at me the way you are now."
His tears fell as I watched him turn from sadness to anger. "You lied to me, Daya!" He exclaimed. "You said nothing happened when you nearly let him fuck you!"
"We weren't officially together yet," I tried to defend myself. "You hadn't asked me to be your girlfriend. I still had time to explore with Jay. When I did I realized I didn't want to be with him. I want to be with you. I love you." I reached for his hand.
"If you really believed that," he pulled away, "you would have told me."
I cried out, "No! I was wrong but I was just scared of losing you. I didn't think you'd forgive me."
"I've been thinking about this conversation since I left the college," he confessed. "You've been the only thing on my mind. I've been wracking my brain around what I'd say to you. I wanted to be honest and tell you that when I got home yesterday... Britt was here because she forgot some equipment."
"And you were right," he continued. "She tried to kiss me and I thought about it but I didn't let it happen because I have a girlfriend. At least I thought I did!"
My expression turned furious. I yelled, "I knew it!"
"You don't get to be upset about that," he said firmly. "Nothing actually happened, and we didn't kiss. We flirt on stage because it entertains the audience, but that's all it is. I don't have any romantic feelings for her. My point is that the first thing I wanted to do was tell you."
He spoke through his tears with rage. "And you lied to me for a year! You didn't even tell me you ran after him until a week later! You kept your college admission from me! You left the fucking acceptance letter here and I read it! Early admission to Columbia, huh? How am I supposed to believe anything you say?"
It was awful to hear but I didn't even have a good excuse as to why. I was a coward.
"Fine. I need to fess up to something else," I declared, my voice trembling as I sat back down, this time closer to him. "A guy kissed me, at a party last night. I don't even know his name. I was drunk, and I missed you so much."
He shook his head at me like I should be ashamed. And I did feel shame. "Anything else you need to tell me? Let's count. 1. You lied about running after him in the first place. 2. You kept your admission letter from me. 3. You tried to push going to college on me when I told you I didn't want to go. 4. You lied to me for over a year about almost sleeping with him. 5. And now you're kissing other guys while we're fighting. Is there anything else I'm missing?"
