Page 10 of Friends That Heal Us
He grabs her arm. “You need to leave,” he says and pulls her down the stairs. She follows along like a puppy dog on a leash.
I stand there frozen, every muscle locked in place as I watch him remove her from my house. My heart sinks to my stomach,and heat rushes to my face. She said the one thing I had buried so deep. My breath catches because a part of me thought he knew, or at least that’s what she told me. From the looks of it, I don’t think he ever knew.
Why would he? She wouldn’t have told him if that meant it might ruin her chances with him. I should have known better than to have believed her back then.
I watch as Ezra comes back up the stairs and takes a seat next to me on the top stair. We both avoid each other’s gazes and stare straight ahead.
“Is she driving?” I ask.
“No. I don’t know how she got here. Her car wasn’t outside.”
Silence fills the air. I’m sitting here waiting for him to ask what she meant, but he says nothing. Should I tell him what she meant? No, if he wants to know, he’ll ask.
“So what are you doing here?”
I wait for an answer, but one doesn’t come. I shift my gaze over to him, and he flinches like he’s lost in thought.
“I came to check on you,” he says.
“Oh,” is all I can mutter.
“How did she get in?”
I let out a sigh because I know I should have changed the code but kept putting it off. “She had the garage code.”
“She has the garage code and I don’t,” he says, shocked.
My lips curl under. “I didn’t know you didn’t have it.”
“Well, now I’ll have it because I’m going to change it for you.”
“I’m fine with that,” I scoff.
“Can I ask you something?”
My heart sinks again because here it comes. I nod.
“What did she mean by that?”
“By what?” I ask stupidly.
He shifts his body, and our eyes lock. “You know what I’m talking about.”
I break our eye contact and stare straight ahead.
“Did you have feelings for me?” he asks softly but with so much curiosity in his voice.
“Yeah. I did. Our senior year of high school,” I say, and I feel his body shift next to mine like he’s surprised, or he wishes he never knew. Does he regret knowing now?
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
I shrug my shoulders. “Because I was worried you would think it was weird since we were best friends. Plus, Rya told me you told her you liked her.”
Heavy silence fills the air. He doesn’t say anything, and it only makes me anxious wondering what he’s thinking. But I need to stop making myself worry about what others think and think only about myself. Especially right now. If he wants to talk more about it, he’ll ask me.
“So Rya told me she stopped at your work and they told her you haven’t been working there for six months.”
He lets out a howl of laughter. I sit up taller, facing him, watching his wide grin and his eyes squint. He slaps his hand down on his leg as if I had said a funny joke.
