Chapter 28

Someone started a fire and Zara, Valerie, and I took seats where we could gaze out over the rest of the party. We talked and laughed as I kept an eye on Sidney most of the night. I could feel my heart starting to ache as I thought about the fact that I only had a couple of more days in the same town as him, but I kept on the smile and kept laughing hoping that no one would notice.

“Is she serious right now?” Valerie asked. I followed her gaze and my eyes settled on Callie.

“Why would she even come here after what happened?” Zara added in amazement. I’d told them both about what had happened the night Mason had proposed.

“Apparently she doesn’t get it,” I responded.

We remained seated by the fire as I watched Callie search out Sidney. I’m not going to lie, seeing her here made me sick. I wish that I could have just gone up to her and told her to leave, but it wasn’t my party. Instead I simply sent her a glare every time she looked in my direction and clenched my jaw every time I watched her touch Sidney.

“Slut!” Valerie exclaimed when Callie wrapped her arms around Sidney’s neck and whispered something in his ear.

“I need a new drink,” I lied. Really, I just needed to get away from the sight of her throwing herself at him.

I walked into the kitchen and dumped what was left of my drink down the drain. Then I rested both hands on the counter and took a few deep breaths to calm myself down. Sidney was not my boyfriend, so I had no right to get as worked up about this as I was. When I felt a little calmer, I mixed a new drink.

“So no ring?” I heard a female voice ask from behind me. I turned to see Callie standing there.

“No. No ring,” I replied coolly. It really wasn’t any of her business.

“You wanted someone with a little more notoriety and money?” I narrowed my eyes at what she was implying.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about.” I wanted to just go back outside, but like she’d done before, she was blocking my way.

“No? If it walks like a puck slut, talks like a puck slut…..” At this point I wasn’t just annoyed, I was angry.

“Hello pot, meet kettle.” She narrowed her eyes right back at me.

“Right, because you really care about him.”

“Dammit, Callie, he’s my best friend. Of course I care about him. I want nothing more than for him to be happy. I just don’t think being with you would do that.”

“I’ve known Sidney most of his life,” she told me.

“And I just want to go back outside,” I returned.

She moved aside and gestured towards the door, signaling that I was welcome to walk by. I picked up my drink and made my way towards her and the back door. As soon as I got to her I felt something cold and wet on my chest. I looked down to see her empty glass hovering upside down over me. When my eyes met hers there was a smile in them.

“Oops,” she half laughed out.

I shook my head at her and put my drink down on the counter. I turned and made my way back into the kitchen where I opened the cupboard door that I knew held the cleaning products. Then I found the paper towels and made my way over to the puddle that had formed on the floor. I knelt down and began to wipe it up.

“You know, Callie, if you cared anything for Sidney like you claim you do, you would stop pissing off his friends and trashing his house. In fact, you’d think you’d be more considerate in general. If I wasn’t here to do it, you would have left this mess on the floor, and what would happen if Sam came in here and lapped it up? Do you think it’s good for a dog to ingest all this alcohol? Sam could have gotten sick, which would have upset Sidney, but you didn’t think to consider that at all, did you?”










Sidney walked inside just in time to hear Misty telling Callie that he was her best friend and she just wanted him to be happy. He had no idea what was going on between them right now, but that statement in itself made him smile and depressed him all at the same time. He made his way past a couple of onlookers in time to watch Callie dump a drink down Misty’s shirt.

He was about to intervene in fear of a fight when Misty’s actions stopped him in his tracks. Instead of retaliating he watched in amazement as she calmly grabbed cleaning supplies and cleaned up the mess on his floor. After Misty gave Callie a little speech she put her head back down to the mess and finished cleaning.

“He’s not yours, you know. Long after you’re gone, I’ll still be here,” Callie said. This time Sidney did step forward.

“I’ve heard enough.” Both Misty and Callie turned to look at him in surprise.

“Sidney!” Callie exclaimed.

“I just don’t even know where to start. Callie, I really don’t know how else to do this, because you seem to not be able to figure it out, so I’m just going to say it. We will never be together. Never. You need to accept that.” Callie opened her mouth to say something, but he wasn’t done yet. “One more thing. I don’t know exactly what your problem with Misty is, but you will never be her and she’s not ever going anywhere. Until the day you can accept that, you’re not welcome back in this house.”

Sidney watched as Callie made a quick exit out the front door. The second the door was closed behind her applause broke out from the crowd that had formed around the kitchen. Someone shouted, “It’s about time!” Sidney rolled his eyes and then smiled before making his way over to Misty. He put away the cleaning supplies and turned back to her.

“I’m really sorry about Callie,” he apologized. She smiled and shrugged.

“It’s not your fault she’s an idiot,” Misty joked. He laughed and then remembered her shirt.

“Come on. Let’s go get you another shirt to wear.” She nodded and followed him up the stairs.

They walked into his bedroom and he began opening dresser drawers and looking for a shirt for her to wear. He finally pulled out a t-shirt that shouldn’t be way too big on her. He handed it over and she took it, giving it a once over. With a shrug she pulled her wet shirt over her head and then put his shirt on. It had been just a brief moment that he got to see her standing there in just her bra, but he thoroughly enjoyed that brief moment.

“How do I look?” Misty asked him. He had to shake the visual out of his head before he could respond.

“Like you’re wearing a dress over jeans,” he replied. She laughed and grabbed a corner of the shirt. He watched as she tied a knot at the side, tightening the shirt, and exposing part of her abdomen.

“I know, so 90’s, but it’s the best I can do,” she said. He didn’t mind one bit.

They made their way back down to the party and everyone else. For the next little while he was told multiple times that he’d made the right choice kicking Callie out of his house. He couldn’t help but agree with them. Good riddance.

As the night went on, he couldn’t help but seek Misty out every few minutes. The more he saw her in his shirt, the more he liked it on her. Was there anything sexier than a hot girl wearing your t-shirt? He imagined getting it back and being able to smell her on it. Then he imagined being the one to take it off of her.

He hated that it took for Mason to show up and propose to Misty to make him realize how he really felt about her. He’d been able to justify not telling her how he felt before by saying that he was only interested in a summer fling and it wasn’t fair to her after all she’d gone through. Now he knew he wasn’t at all interested in just a fling, but it was too late to do anything about it.

He only had a few days left in Cole Harbour, which meant only a few days left with Misty. It was unbelievable how much it hurt to know he’d be leaving her in a few days with no idea when he’d see her again. It wasn’t supposed to hurt that much when you left someone you’d only known for two and a half months.

The party began to break up long after midnight and he had to say goodbye once again to his friends. He probably wouldn’t see any of them again before he left due to saying goodbye to his family and packing. Once everyone was gone or passed out somewhere in his house he made his way upstairs to bed, with Misty right behind him.

“Thanks for letting me wear your shirt,” she said to him. He turned back to tell her she didn’t need to thank him, and saw that she’d taken it off and tossed it into his pile of laundry.

“I doubt your shirt is any cleaner than it was earlier,” he said, caught off-guard by the sight of her half naked in front of him again.

“You’re probably right.” She turned and dug into his laundry to get it again. He walked over and grabbed her arm to stop her.

“I’ll give you clothes to sleep in.”

She turned and looked up at him with a smile. Oh, God, why does she always have to lick her lips at times like this? Somehow he managed to keep himself in check and make his way to his dresser to get her clothes. When he turned back to give her the clothes, he found that her jeans were now on the floor.

“Clothes,” she said, holding a hand out for them.

He should have just tossed them to her, but he didn’t. Instead he walked over and handed them to her. Their fingers touched just as she licked her lips again. Someday he was going to have to ask her if she did that on purpose. Now was just not the time, because currently his mouth was too occupied with kissing her to say anything at all.

As he kissed her and slowly removed the rest of her clothing he wondered if she’d caught on to how he felt about her. As he let her remove his clothing he wondered if maybe she felt the same way. As they moved in sync and called out each other’s names, he wondered if he’d ever find out the answers to the two previous questions.