Page 39 of Becoming Us

“It pissed me off that Att had a crush on you. And it pissed me off even more how easily you pulled him into your world.”

The air thickened with dislike again. This time, it was definitely coming from me. “Why?”

“Why do you think, Noah?”

I shrugged. Couldn’t find the words around the tight knot forming in my chest. Truthfully, there were too many possible reasons to choose from.

He leaned back against the counter, arms crossed. “Just picture this for a second.” He bit down on the inside of his cheek, seemingly gathering his thoughts. “Imagine Holly isn’t as outgoing as she is. Imagine watching her for years, stuck in her own bubble, keeping to herself, never letting anyone in because she doesn’t know how. Imagine her giving up and hyperfixatingon something else—say, volleyball. And you’re trying, over and over again, to get her to live a little, to come out of her shell.”

He paused, eyes steady on me.

“And then, one day, this guy walks into the picture. This smooth guy with all the charm and all the smiles. And she fallshard. No parachute, no safety net. Just free-falls because he held out his hand. He gives her every comfort she’s never known, and the only thing she has to give back is all her time and attention.”

My heart thudded against my ribs. My palm was slick around the spoon.

“Overnight, he becomes her whole world. And then you find out he’s not exactly a good guy. So yeah, I think a little overprotectiveness was warranted.”

I swallowed thickly, dropped the spoon again, and rubbed my palms down my sweats.

My first instinct was to bolt. To walk back to my room and shove this conversation into some dark corner of my mind where it could sit and rot.

But life had proven, again and again, that my instincts weren’t always right.

So I fought against it and pushed the question past my lips—one that terrified me but that I needed answered. “What changed your mind?”

He let out a light chuckle—not humorless, exactly; more like a breath of relief. “You did.”

After the year I’d had, I thought I was past being surprised.

I was so fucking wrong.

“I beg your pardon?”

This time, his laugh carried more certainty. “I know, right? Against all odds. But yeah, you changed my mind. Because you changed around him. Everything stopped revolving around you, and you gave him space. You were selfless with him, and I’d never seen you do that—much less keep it up for months.”

My jaw hung open. I snapped it shut.

“What do you think? Is that enough for us to put things behind us?”

“Are you going to stop being a pain?”

He grinned. “Being annoyingly opinionated is part of my charm, Rossi. You either take it or leave it.”

I smiled back before I could stop myself. Then I shrugged, chewing on my bottom lip while I thought. There was still one more thing I needed to ask, and well, no time like the present.

“I have another question—before we come up with a secret handshake.”

He rolled his eyes but nodded at me to go ahead.

“All that animosity you had toward me—none of it had anything to do with you having a thing for him?” The words tumbled out faster than I intended.

He narrowed his eyes behind his thick frames. “I fucking knew it.”

Heat climbed up the back of my neck. “It was just a thought?—”

“I fucking knew it,” he said again, shaking his head, a dry laugh escaping. “No, Noah. I’ve never had a thing for Att.”

The pressure in my chest loosened. “Really?”