Trust Me. I'm Lying - (SLOWLY EDITING)

When There Is Only US: Chapter 27

"Let us twain walk aside from the rest;

Now we are together privately, do you discard ceremony,

Come! Vouchsafe to me what has yet been vouchsafed to none-Tell me the whole story,

Tell me what you would not tell your brother, wife, husband, or physician."

—Walt Whitman.

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CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN:

When There Is Only Us.

Summer was in the air. With afternoons so warm, Mom put out our decrepit-looking picnic table so we could have dinner outside. With roughly two months left of school, and the whole lot of us could smell freedom in the air.

We had started reading The Giver in English, and I saw Sebastian wink at me as Mr. Reilly handed out copies, to which I nearly choked on the sip of water I was having at the time. Tristan was now a regular visitor at our lunch table, while Jess and Sebastian sat considerably closer and closer every day. One day I caught them holding hands loosely by her locker. So loosely, in fact, it was hard to tell if their fingers were touching. During lunch on a Wednesday, Chris and Jess came up with the name Cabelle, which made Carson go so red in the face it did not go away for several hours.

It made me want to kiss him. Like, a lot.

I heard Danielle whisper something every day. It'd been a while since this happened. Meaning she had not done this since the start of Middle School. Carson walked me to every class. And when he didn't, either Aiden or Jess did, without knowing what happened. It was not easy to ignore, but it was simple to forget.

I still refused point-blank to talk to Mr. Langley, and I tried, as much as I could, not to walk the hallway where his office was. Because Mom still hadn't said anything, and I was sure I wouldn't be able to keep it together when I was sitting face to face with Art.

So everything was normal, and there were no further complications other than all the shitty exams that were coming when Aiden reminded me of something I already knew but had unconsciously repressed.

The plan was that on Sunday, Chris and Aiden would pick me up, then Jess, and we would go for brunch somewhere. However, sometime around January, Mom had fallen under Aiden's spell. She believed he was such a fine gentleman, Isabelle. Both of you are lucky to be friends. This bit was, of course, a complete act of manipulation.

So Mom spotted Aiden's car and told him to come in and hugged him because she had not seen him in so long. Long story short, The Lovebirds were now sitting on my couch. Chris had her legs on Aiden's lap, and he was eating a sandwich while I sat down on the floor. I was texting Jess that our plans were probably canceled due to Aiden, when I caught on some snippets of the conversation Aiden was having with my best friend.

I closed my eyes, counting the days in my head when I interrupted them. "Tell me next week is not the first one of May," I pleaded to no one in particular. I sneaked a glance at Chris. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Aiden go as red as I had ever seen him. Just a slight pink coloring on only one of his cheeks. I had the feeling he had just realized the same thing I had.

"Do you want me not to tell you, or do you want me to lie?" Chris asked, her brow furrowed.

"Shit," I murmured, standing up. I smacked Aiden's head as I went upstairs to my room. I heard a slight "OW!" In one of the letters to him, I had asked him when was his birthday.