Total pages in book: 52
Estimated words: 50770 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50770 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
I run while they’re still yelling and get to her side even faster than Quinn. He panics and reaches for her at the same time Ambrose does.
“Sweetheart.” Ambrose taps her cheek.
Quinn jerkily pulls his hands away, concern etched across his face, and it quite honestly all clicks.
Her.
He said his heart was recently broken, I thought he was being sarcastic or living in the moment, I didn’t really take his words at face value until this moment.
I lean down and reach for his hand. “She’ll be okay.”
How weird, to comfort someone who’s still in love with someone else. Or maybe not in love, I don’t know… I have too many conflicting emotions and right now we just need to make sure she’s all right.
Slowly, she blinks open her eyes and frowns at Ambrose. “Why am I on the ground?”
“Because you fainted.” He’s gritting his teeth. “And you know that when you’re pregnant—“
He stops talking.
My mouth gapes open.
Quinn pales next to me, squeezing my hand so tight I’m afraid he’s going to actually pull it off. “You’re pregnant?”
MB hits him. “I just get dizzy and I just found out this morning, so thank you, dumbass of the house, for spilling everything, plus it’s early on… only a few weeks.”
“With a baby.” Quinn’s voice cracks.
Ambrose clenches his teeth. “No, a chicken. Yes, a baby!”
“A baby,” he repeats again, smile sad. “I’m really happy for you guys.”
I start to stand as Quinn pulls me up. “Hey, maybe we should all go inside, it is a weirdly hot day, and she probably needs to hydrate.”
MB rolls her eyes. “I’m fine, plus it’s your birthday.”
“We have all the rest of the day.” I point out. “You go nap.”
Ambrose is already pulling her to his side and helping her get up and walk back toward the stairs.
I’m quiet.
Quinn’s deathly quiet.
Happy Birthday to me?
I clear my throat. “It’s good that you guys can all still be friends, even better that you’re happy for him, right?”
Please say right.
Please don’t be so hung up that you can’t see anyone else.
Please see me.
Quinn drops my hand, it may as well be my heart. Didn’t she make him promise not to break it?
He puts that hand on his chest, then grabs mine again. “It doesn’t hurt like it used to, I’m just in shock because one time, just one time, I saw a way in. Had I been more honest, a better friend, made different choices, but I wouldn’t change any of that.”
“Because hurting is a normal human process?”
“Well that, but also because I got to meet you and as cheesy as that sounds, I really like you, even when you’re so competitive my best friend looks ready to run you over with his car.”
“Yeah, his eyes get so big.”
“Scary big.” He smirks, then wraps an arm around me. “Let’s go grab a snack or some drinks. God, I need a drink that actually sounds way better—and go watch a movie in my room.”
“Is that code for birthday sex?”
He smiles straight ahead. “I mean, if you want it to be… but I kind of just wanted to hold you.”
Plus, how horrible of a human would I be if I slept with him like my sister did and didn’t tell him?
How horrible is it of me that my next biggest concern is, what if he can tell because I’m not good at it?
Selfish.
But it is my birthday so I accept it. “Sounds good.”
Chapter Eleven
Quinn
I want her again.
So bad. It’s ridiculous. She’s so pretty, and it’s not just that, it’s just this feeling I have. She’s walking down the hall, I watch her steps and think to myself, I’m an idiot because I’m obsessed with the cadence, like how does a human get obsessed with how someone walks?
But I am.
Fully invested, by the way, in how she walks. Her hips sway, there are tiny things about her that are so amazing but it’s almost like she saves them for me when I’m watching. She looks over her shoulder and smiles. Meanwhile, I nearly walk into a wall, then the fridge, then take a minute.
A near death experience and I met someone for a reason, I hope.
I just want to be close to her and I feel a weird need to do exactly that.
I would hold her if that’s what she wanted.
I would kiss her on the cheek, ask permission to hold her hand, she’s just so interesting and fun. I feel like she gets me and I get her.
It’s different than it was with MB, I was in full protective mode along with having a whole secret life that I shouldn’t have kept secret. I was in a war with my best friend, and oh yeah, trying to survive my dad’s heavy hand on everything I did since apparently being in the chess club was so not the direction he wanted me going.