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“Are we friends? Acquaintances? Just people who end up in the same place because we have mutual friends?” Cody spread his hands apart. “Something entirely different?”
I swallowed. “Maybe a combination of things? We started out as people who ended up in the same place all the time because of Austin. I’d like to say we’ve gotten past that and are friends in our own right, though. Why?”
“So just friends?”
I studied Cody’s face. Was he asking what I thought—hoped—he was asking? But what if he wasn’t? What if he was completely good with being friends and I opened my mouth to tell him I thought more than that and he was like, eww, no?
“How wouldyoudefine us?”
It was a cop-out answer. The kind of answer parents gave when they were too busy or distracted or annoyed to just answer. And for the first time in my life, I understood a tiny bit why they did it.
“Definitely we’re friends. I just wonder, sometimes, if that’s all we are?” Cody’s eyebrows lifted and he leaned forward a smidge. “If it’s all we can be, or if there’s a chance for more.”
A thousand different answers flickered through my brain in the space of two heartbeats. I wanted to take the time to think through the repercussions of each and then choose the very best one. The one that posed the least risk to either of us. But that wasn’t what my heart wanted. My heart saw its chance and circumvented my brain, and I had one of those strange out-of-body moments when you see and hear yourself doing something that isn’t well thought out.
“I’d really like there to be.”
13
CODY
My heart stuttered. Had she really said what I thought I’d just heard? I couldn’t have stopped the grin that spread across my face if I’d wanted to.
And I definitely didn’t want to.
“For real?”
Megan wouldn’t meet my eyes, but she nodded.
It was all the encouragement I needed. I reached across the table and took her hands in mine. There was no way to describe how long I’d wanted to hold her hands like this—and more, but there’d be time for that. I wasn’t going to rush her. Or me. It wasn’t like we could announce to the world that we were dating. It wouldn’t go over well in the group at large.
Austin might have said he was okay with it when it was all some nebulous, up in the air idea. I didn’t know how he’d respond to it becoming reality.
So we could wait on that some.
“How do we do this?” Now she looked up and met my gaze.
I laughed and squeezed her hands. “Now who’s the mind reader?”
She smiled. “It’s complicated, right? It was complicated in my head when I thought there was no way on earth that you’d ever be interested in me like that.”
“I’ve always been interested in you like that.” I gave a small shrug. “Just to be clear.”
Her brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“I mean pretty much from the moment I met you, when you were way too young for me to be thinking about you as anything more than an annoying little girl, I was doing it anyway.” I winced. That came out creepier than it had sounded in my head.
“Yeah? Well, same goes.” She chuckled, head shaking. “Why do we make things harder than they need to be and miss out on so much?”
“Do you want to go sit in the living room?” I really wanted to be closer to her. At least on the couch, she could be next to me. I could put an arm around her. Maybe she’d rest her head on my shoulder. All the things I’d imagined—well, okay, not all of them—for so long.
Megan’s answer was to stand and come around the table. She’d kept hold of one of my hands the whole time. Maybe shehadbeen hoping for this as long as me.
We moved to the living room and settled on the couch. Megan tucked herself up beside me, head on my shoulder. I wrapped my arm around her, and laid my cheek on the top of her head.
“This is perfect.”
She chuckled. “I think that’s my line.”
