Page 102 of Fireworks

Chapter Thirty Three

August

*****

Katie

The dread that school was starting back up soon loomed over my head like an impending storm. The summer went too fast. Not to say I didn’t enjoy it.

Nate and I tried to spend more time together. He even brought me with him when he went flying. I usually spent the time in the hangar either talking with Harry or helping organize paperwork in the office to keep my mind busy while he was up in the air. Despite them insisting it was safe, the thought of him up there and not coming down always put a knot in my stomach until he landed safely.

For the last week I had been begging Nate to talk to Asher. Each time I would bring up his name Nate would find a way to distract me and change the subject. His avoidance was beginning to make me question if he saw a future between us. What if he didn’t want to talk to him and ruin their friendship because this was short term for him. There was a feeling deep down in my gut that worried he never would confess to anyone about me. My heart squeezed tight in my chest at the thought that this meant less to him than it did to me.

The minutes clicked by slowly as we sat in an uncomfortable silence. Asher had been here for one day already and my hanging out with them made no sense after today. We all came back here last night, and the two idiots got drunk. Asher didn’t want me driving back home so late alone so told me to stay. Sam and Nolan had been away with their family for a vacation to Florida, so we didn’t have to worry about them saying something to Asher.

Asher would be coming back soon from the store. Once he got back, we were supposed to head back home for a big family dinner. Nate’s inability to come out and tell my brother I was his girlfriend had me feeling a mix of being ashamed and furious at the same time. It was going to be easy to get through a dinner with him since I didn’t want to be anywhere near Nate right now.

The longer I sat letting the void of conversation eat away at me the worse the knots in my stomach got. The thought that I wasn’t anything more than someone for Nate to screw around with made me feel stupid. He could say all the right things and charm me all he wanted. At the end of the day his inability to tell the one person who mattered in both our lives about his feelings hurt. I was sick of the silence when what could possibly be the worst idea ever flash into my mind.

“Want to play a game?”

He arched his brow as he looked up from his phone.

“That depends on what kind of game?”

Closing the door to his bedroom I boldly turned around taking a deep breath in.

“Truth, dare, strip.”

Looking back at me I could tell he had never played this version. Presumably because I was pretty sure Ahsley, a girl I knew in high school, made it up just to be able to strip down at parties.

“Rules are simple. You pick, truth or dare. If you want to pass you have to take a piece of clothing off. I’ll go first.”

He was sizing up the situation trying to figure out if this was a wise decision. If I was going to be one hundred percent honest with myself it wasn’t, someone always ended up getting hurt by the end of it.

“Okay. Fine. So, truth or dare?”

His words came out with no certainty that he wanted to play the game but was going to pacify me in hopes that Asher got back soon. Folding my arms across my chest I spoke.

“Truth.”

Pondering for a moment, he opened his mouth before snapping it shut. This wasn’t going to be an easy game for him having to ask me things he might not want the answers to.

“Was it worth it?”

Staring back at him I wasn’t sure what he meant. Taking the hint that I was clueless he elaborated.

“Losing your virginity to me. Was it worth it?”

Without hesitation I answered.

“Yes. Your turn, truth or dare?”

He didn’t miss a beat, answering quickly.

“Truth.”

“Do you regret taking it?”