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“They’re guys. They have hormones and stuff.”
“Ew, gross. What are you talk—”
“This, this is what I mean.” Pity etched in her expression. “Darla and her friends are kissing their way through every boy in our class and you’re… pining after my brother.”
“I am not.”
“Poppy, I know you.” Her brow arched. “I watch the two of you together all the time. He’s my twin and you’re my best friend, but sometimes I don’t even understand what you two share.”
“We’re friends.”
“Yeah, okay. Just promise me you won’t wait for him.”
“What do you mean?” My heart stuttered in my chest, a band of wild horses trampling inside of me.
“He’s going to meet a girl, Pops. A girl who kisses guys the way I eat Twizzlers. Once he’s kissed a girl what do you think he’s gonna want to do?”
“Why are you saying all this to me?” My chest tightened.
“Because I love you and I don’t want to see you get hurt. Aaron is… he’s a good guy. And he loves you.”
Her words sank into me, making me soar. Aaron loved me. I’d thought he did for a while. But hearing her say it was different. It was everything.
She didn’t look happy about it though, and I should have known she was about to bring me back down to reality with a resounding thud.
“But he’ll never see you that way, Poppy.”
“What?” My stomach sank. “Why?”
“Because you’re family. You’re too important. And it would complicate things.”
“I…” I wanted to argue, but she was right.
Aaron was loyal. He was kind and sweet and good. And he would never risk my heart like that.
“You’re right,” I said. “I’m being stupid. It’s just a silly crush. It’ll go away. Especially when we get to junior high and he starts making out with anything with boobs.”
But the words were a lie.
Because I didn’t have a silly crush. I was utterly and hopelessly in love with him.
Part of me always had been.
I looked into the future and all I saw was Aaron. The two of us, together. Happy.
It was too late.
My heart already belonged to him.
Whether he wanted it or not.
