Evangeline Lawrence has a secret. A big secret. One involving her birthday, the player, August Griffin, who's (almost) like a brother to her, and a kiss the night before he ran away. No one else knows about it, aside from August, of course, and Evan...
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Pov: Evangeline
The first thing I do when I come out of the motel bathroom wearing nothing but a bra, underwear, and my grey, over sized crew-neck is cover my face with my hands. I can feel his eyes on me, even though I told him not to look.
"August, I said don't look!"
"And I never said I agreed to that."
"Asshole." I jump onto my side of the bed and start stuffing the extra pillows in between us. If there's one good thing about this motel, it's the limitless supplies of pillow. Well, not limitless but...
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?"
"I'm still pissed at you. Besides, you broke this off, remember?" He stays quiet.
I roll over and grab my phone off the nightstand. I have one text from my parents, telling me goodnight, and five texts from Nathan, asking me if I'm sure I can handle being in the same motel as August. When I texted my parents and brother earlier, I kind of left out the part about me and August having to sleep in the same room. I think if I had told them, Nathan would have driven all the way down here to pick me up. He and August came to some sort of agreement, but I don't think the agreement covers this situation.
"Ann?" I half want to punch August, half want to hug him.
"What?"
"Can you turn off the light?" I look over at him. He's sitting up in bed, smirking at me.
"No. The light is closer to you."
"But I wouldn't mind if you just crawled over-" Something inside me lights up the tiniest bit and send heat rushing through my body. I have to get rid of these feelings, and soon.
"Quit flirting, asshole, and turn the light out yourself." This demand sounds, even to my own ears, half-hearted. I turn back to my phone as my face reddens.
He reaches over to turn out the light, and as he does so, I can hear him mumble something. Something that sounds like, "Okay, okay, whatever you say, Queen Ann of Avila Beach."
My heart stops. There's a good chance that I didn't hear him right, but if I had, I means that he look at my contact on his phone after the fight. Which means he was either second guessing his choice or considering blocking me.
Pov: August
I realize my mistake as soon as the words leave my mouth. I can hope she didn't hear what I said, but I'd be stupid to assume anything.
The only light in the room now comes from Ann's phone. Even though I can't seen over the wall of pillows from where I'm laying, I can tell when it turns off. She places it on the night stand and her head becomes viable for a second. Then the head, along with her braided hair and the rest of her body, disappears again behind the barrier.
I sigh and roll over. What on Earth am I doing?
I thought I was going to let her go. I really did. If Nathan hadn't texted me that day, I probably would have, if just for another year or two. But now, I don't know what I'm going to do. Because all the time she was yelling at me, I couldn't help but think how beautiful she was. I broke her heart, healed it, broke it again, and now, against my better judgement, I want her back. And she isn't about to fall for that again.
Part of me knows that things like us never work. Feelings fade, relationships fall apart. In the end, love is just what makes us think our lives have meaning. It's nothing more than that. But if I'm being completely honest, I can't loose her. I know it's stupid, and I know I'm scared, but I can't loose her. Sue me.
As her breathing slows and finally turns into light snores, I drown in feelings and thoughts. Finally, there's only one thing left for me to do.
"I love you, Ann," I whisper to her sleeping form.
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