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“With who?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
Did she really just say don’t worry about it to me? That might be the most bothersome thing she’s said to me yet. Reaching over to the console behind the couch, I turn the music way down so it’s not distracting.
She closes the door, and tries to take a few steps away, but I juke to make up the distance. “What’s going on with you, Angel?”
“Don’t call me that anymore,” she mutters.
“Why not? Hey, wait.” I urge and place my hands gently but firmly on her shoulders to stare her in the eyes. “Talk to me. You’ve always been my An—”
“Don’t,” she cuts me off from saying her nickname. “Don’t do this to me, Raf.”
“Don’t do what?”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
“No, I don’t. Enlighten me.”
She sighs and looks at the table before turning to meet my eyes. “You know by calling me Angel, I’ll crumble for you. I’ll do whatever you want me to. It’s the button you push when you want me to be soft for you. And I… I can’t do that anymore. I can’t keep pretending all the innocent touches and smiles and nicknames don’t affect me. I can’t keep letting you use me!”
“Angie, when have I ever—”
“Emotionally, Rafael! You use me emotionally. I’ve always been here for you to let your guard down and be your true self; and I love your true self—”
“I love you too, Ang,” I say softly.
Her huff of frustration forms into a single tear falling from her beautiful blue eyes. “You love me like a friend, Raf. I don't have any qualifiers. I love you.”
All at once, the air is sucked out of the room and everything in me stills except the thunderstorm in my heart. A tightness pulls across every inch of my skin and the hairs raise on the back of my neck.
She loves me?
“Since when?” I manage to ask. But before she can answer, there’s a knock at the door. I’m too stunned to move or care who’s there.
“Does it matter?” she says defeatedly, then opens the door like she already knows who’s waiting.
There stands Jared Holloway, just as shocked to see me as I am to see him. My mind reels back to that night freshman year when she left me at that party to lose her virginity to Jared—and all the nights following when she’d leave me to hook up with him.
“What’s Rafael doing here?” he asks her.
“I live here, asshole,” I seethe.
“You live with Angie?”
“Were you going on a date with him?” I accuse her and she rubs her forehead with a sigh.
“Ang, are you okay?” Jared asks, reaching for her arm and stroking it gently. “You look like you’ve been crying.”
“Don’t touch her,” I snarl.
“That’s enough!” Angie barks. “Jared, could you please give us a moment. I’ll be right there.”
He looks at me warily but nods to her. “Sure. I’ll just…be out here.”
When the door closes, so does my resolve. “Were you going to fuck him?” She crosses her arms and stares at me in response. “Were you?”
“I don’t know.”
