Chapter 46

46

DAPHNE

W hile helping to set up the gym at the high school for the reunion, I couldn't help but notice the glaring absence of most members of the student government of Eric's class. It was like none of them cared at all and they were simply expecting things to be done—even if they couldn't be bothered to do it themselves.

A couple of them were with us, but the vast majority were nowhere to be found—and I wasn't the only person here who'd noticed. Lacey-Lee, another volunteer who had been in the year behind me and had moved back to town straight after college too, looked annoyed as she glanced around.

"Seriously? I think this class has the laziest student government who has ever come through Allisburg High. I volunteer every year and I've never seen anything like this."

I nodded my agreement. "Yeah, I know. It's my brother's class, so I hate ragging on them, but they definitely could be doing better."

"I've seen so many of them around town these last few days, but where are they?" She took another pointed look around before accepting a balloon from me for the arch we were constructing. "Do they even realize that the rest of us are all volunteers who can just walk away?"

I shrugged. "Personally, I wouldn't do that to the faculty, but you're not wrong. I just hope they're appreciating the effort being put in on their behalf."

"I doubt it," she said wistfully. "All the people I've run into from their group have been terribly self-important. Like those of us who stayed in town should fall at their feet for getting out."

I chuckled, thinking back to Fiona's comment about all the rest of them moving on to better things. "Amen to that, sister. That's also probably why they're not here. They're too busy being important to help with a little thing like the reunion they all came back to town for."

"Strutting around town bragging about how great their lives are and the cities they moved to." She winked at me. "I can actually see them doing that, though. Except your brother, of course. Jake Garrison's okay as well. It's the rest of them that are assholes."

As she hung the balloon and reached off the ladder she was standing on for another, her gaze locked on the door and her cheeks flushed. "Oh, boy. Let's hope he didn't hear us. That's Sterling North, isn't it? It's about damn time their president showed up."

I spun around, immediately finding him as he strode into the gym. Those dark eyes of his had already zeroed in on me. His long legs ate up the distance between us. My mouth went dry and my voice came out a little squeaky.

"Yeah," I said. "That's him."

"I hope he brought reinforcements," she muttered as she took the balloon from me, staring at him openly for a beat until she seemed to catch herself and went back to work.

I struggled to do the same thing, especially because he was still striding directly toward me. Our eyes locked and for a moment, the gym faded into the background and I forgot all about the fact that we were apparently not talking to each other.

Sterling was looking at me like I was the only person in the room, his head not even cocking as people called his name and tried to get his input on what they were doing. I was only vaguely aware of it myself, but it wasn't my name they were saying.

He ignored them, though.

If I hadn't known any better, I would've thought he'd only come here for me, but that couldn't be true. We were setting up for their reunion and he was the class president, so he was probably only going to do the polite thing and say hi before he got to work.

As soon as he reached me, he wrapped his fingers around my arm and took me aside. "Can we talk for a minute? Somewhere private?"

I nodded and followed as he led me out of the gym and into a quiet hallway beyond. My heart was pounding. I turned to face him, missing the heat of his hand on my skin as soon as he dropped it back to his side.

We were only standing about a foot or so apart, and my entire body was tingling with having him so near again after not seeing him for what felt like an eternity. I kept my distance, though, crossing my arms to keep myself from reaching for him.

"Hi," I said, still too squeaky.

"Hey, Daph." His voice was hard and low, and there was no smile on his lips as he looked at me.

In fact, it seemed he'd reverted to that cold, distant guy he'd been when he'd first arrived, which hurt like hell. I wanted to throw my arms around his neck and beg him to tell me what was going on, but I didn't. "What's up?"

"We need to talk."

"So you said, but you've had a few days to reach out and you haven't, so I'm not quite sure what you suddenly want to talk to me about now."

"Eric has an issue with us seeing each other," he murmured, eyes still fixed on my own.

His black hair was a little messy, like he'd been fidgeting with it on his way over, but that couldn't be true. Sterling North wasn't the type to fidget. I sighed. "Yes, I know that, but that's his problem. Not mine and not yours."

"It is my problem and yours if it's going to cause issues in your family, Daphne. That's not what I want. I don't want to be responsible for a rift between you guys. You've always been so close."

"Again, if there is a rift, it's because Eric can't accept that I can make my own decisions," I said, keeping my arms crossed even tighter against my chest as I fought against the urge to touch him. To coax out the guy he was inside. "Is that all you wanted to say?"

"No." His lids slid shut for just a moment as he inhaled. Then he opened his eyes again and looked right at me. "I have to go back to New York. After the reunion, I'll be leaving and I didn't want you to hear it from anyone else."

"Right." All that spit and tape around my heart started coming loose all over again. I could practically feel the fissures as they turned into cracks, but I refused to let him see it. "Wasn't that always the plan?"

"Yeah." He dragged a hand through his hair, averting his gaze for a moment to look at the trophy cabinet. "I just wanted to make sure you knew it was still happening. Don't fight with Eric, Daph. He loves you. He's just trying to protect you, is all."

So many things raced through my head, one of which was that I didn't need Eric's protection and another was that Sterling had no right to tell me who to fight with. I wanted to rant and rave. To demand an explanation about why he'd disappeared on me as soon as my brother had found out, when not twelve hours before, he'd been promising me that we were going to figure it out together.

I wanted to cry and beg him to stay. I wanted to know why he was telling me this in the first place when I hadn't known there was a chance he wouldn't be leaving.

Ultimately, though, I'd made enough of a fool of myself recently. I'd allowed myself to get sucked into my teenage fantasies and to believe that something might actually come of hooking up with him.

Meanwhile, it had probably never even crossed his mind that I was falling for him while he'd been having fun at home. Besides, he had Fiona waiting in the wings, probably chomping at the bit for a second chance with her high school sweetheart.

I couldn't compete with her or with his glitzy life back in New York, and it had been naive of me to think I could. Staring into those deep brown eyes, I made a mental note of every golden fleck and darker ring in his irises, knowing I would be torturing myself by thinking back to this moment often but also needing the detail to be able to do it properly.

If I'm going down, I'm going down in flames. I wasn't going to get over him fast anyway. It just felt right to have him as clear as possible in my memories. At least that way, I would remember exactly what I was sobbing about.

At the same time, I had to be strong in this moment. Falling apart was meant to happen in the privacy of my own home, on my own time. This wasn't a surprise and I refused to let him know how much it hurt me.

"Sure. Yeah. Eric's trying to protect me. This has nothing to do with his ego being bruised because he didn't catch on about us earlier. It's not about his immature sense of ick from knowing that his best friend is getting it on with his sister. It's absolutely just about protecting me. I'll be sure to remember that when you're gone."

Sterling exhaled a deep breath through his nostrils, his lips twisting like he was pained. "Just don't give him too much grief about it? Please? I'll be gone, so what's the point of fighting with him? He's your brother. Your family. You guys are lucky to have each other. Don't let this ruin your relationship."

He won't even talk to me, so it's hardly me doing the relationship ruining. "Of course. Eric and I will work it out, Sterling. Anything else?"

He swiped his tongue across his lips, searching my eyes like he was waiting for me to say something else, but I didn't really know what else I could offer. Since I was intent on putting on a brave face for all this, though, I finally shrugged.

"We should probably just be friends, then," I said, looking deep into his eyes for even a flicker of something that wasn't just cool distance.

"Right. We should be friends," he repeated after me, but he didn't sound particularly excited about it either.

I swore I saw something like turmoil behind those eyes then, but it was only for a moment and then it was gone. The fact of the matter was that Sterling and I had never been friends and I doubted we'd be able to do it moving forward.

I, for one, would have a really hard time being just friends with him. As I stared at him, he nodded slowly, but then he slid his hands into his pockets and started backing away from me. "Alright, then. I'll see you around, Daphne."

"See you around." He started turning to leave, and before I could even stop myself, just a little bit of the confusion and spite rolling around inside me bubbled out. "Have fun with Fiona."

He froze, twisting so he was facing me again. With his brow furrowed and his head slightly cocked, he seemed genuinely puzzled, but he was probably just not sure how I'd found out. "What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing." I'd said it out of anger, but as of about thirty seconds ago, it really had nothing to do with me who he chose to spend his time with.

Sterling had broken it off between us even if he hadn't said the words, and we were just friends now. Determined to keep my mouth shut, I gave him a quick wave and took off, rushing back down the hallway to the gym.

Maybe this distance would be a good thing. I'd never been mean or spiteful in my life, and I'd definitely never felt like my heart had been ripped clean out of my chest. I almost checked for a trail of blood dripping from me, though.

Naive, foolish Daphne LaSalle had fallen for the golden god of Allisburg High, the North Star who had so often guided his team to victory. It'd been stupid all along, but when I thought about it now, fully aware of how much hope I'd ended up having that we really would work things out, it was hands down the dumbest thing I'd ever done.

Unfortunately, I'd already gone and done it. I'd fallen hook, line, and sinker for Sterling North, and he just really didn't give a damn.