Page 43 of Send It

Lincoln

Reiss and I haven’t talked much since the night in the shop and I have almost completely distanced myself from Colson. If I am going to show out at Nationals, I need to make sure that my head is clear.

I don’t need to worry about my brother or his best friend. Not until I see the checkered flag and finish what I started.

Everyone left this morning and Stassie and I are following behind the convoy in her car. She wanted to drive separately, that way she could have her own wheels in case she needed to go out or do something during the day.

We didn’t ever end up talking about that day at the lake, and she never really opened up about why she was so upset.

“Did you bring enough clothes to last all weekend?” I chuckle, jamming one of her suitcases with my elbow that is protruding from the back.

“I brought a normal amount of clothes,” she says. “You are the one who didn’t bring enough.”

“It’s camping,” I remind her. “You don’t have to look like a model the entire time.”

I glance over at her, knowing she doesn’t really have to try. So is she trying to impress someone?

“Is something going on with you and Landon Tate?”

“No,” she groans. “Do you and your brother just not talk at all?”

“These past couple of weeks have been weird,” I sigh. “So you aren’t hanging out with Landon?”

“No,” she says. “I cornered Landon and made him tell me the truth about Reiss and Mira. I knew Reiss wasn’t hanging around her for no reason. It just really sucks that he got her knocked up, because she really doesn’t seem like his type. Now he’s stuck with her forever.”

I toss her question back at her, “Do you not talk to my brother at all?”

“What do you mean?”

I tilt my brows in, “Mira is pregnant but it’s not by Reiss.”

Stassie’s foot slams down on the brake causing several things to fly into the front, “What?”

I side eye her as she pulls off onto the shoulder, her chest moving up and down with deep breaths.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I ask, as she grips the steering wheel trying not to hyperventilate.

“I freaked out after our lake day. I told Reiss that I loved him and that he ruined us, but there really hadn’t been an us to ruin. I acted like a crazy person because I thought that any chance I ever had with him was over.”

I stare at her blankly as she continues.

“We love each other, right? Am I crazy? All that flirting? All the times he messes with me? It’s because he loves me, right?!”

I think she’s on the verge of an anxiety attack, so I grab her hand that she keeps waving around and squeeze it gently, “Stas, calm down. It’s just Reiss.”

“But he’s not just Reiss. He’s never been just Reiss.”

Suddenly the reality of this sinks in, “But Stas, he’s my brother.”

She uses her palm to slowly hit herself in the forehead over and over again, “I freaking know that! I tried not to like him. I told myself over and over again that he was just Reiss.”

She looks down, shaking her head as she stares at the emblem on her steering wheel. “Oh my God, Linc. I love your stupid ass brother. What the fuck is wrong with me? Should I be committed? Like do you think an actual psych ward would take me in? Do we have time to drive me there?”

I grab both sides of her face, stopping her rant. “Take a breath. You are freaking out for no reason.”

She blows out a breath, “You aren’t mad at me?”

“No,” I sigh. “That would be a little hypocritical of me, wouldn’t it?”

“I guess,” she sighs. “So you aren’t grossed out?”

I laugh, “I’m completely grossed out but that doesn’t change how you feel. I think it’s been a long time coming, honestly.”

“Ugh, what do I do now? ”

I look around at the traffic nearly blowing her door off every time a car passes. “Well you could start by getting back on the road. Do you want me to drive?”

“No I can do it,” she groans. “I fucked everything up. Reiss has barely even spoken to me since our lake day and the one time I talked to him, he asked me about Landon and I freaked out on him.”

“You should talk to him,” I say, watching her wait for her opportunity to pull back into traffic. “It’s just one giant misunderstanding.”

“We kissed,” she sighs. “At the 4 th of July party. We didn’t mean to and I was so confused about it. I mean, he’s with Mira so I thought he was cheating on her. I felt so guilty about it and then to find out she was pregnant?”

She’s obviously upset about what happened but also it explains why both of them were kinda MIA at the party.

“I thought I was this horrible person. I kissed her boyfriend and he kissed me back. I mean it all makes sense now but that’s why I was so mad that day at the lake.

We still hadn’t talked about it and he was acting so fucking weird.

The night before the lake I saw Landon at Lakeside and I asked him about Mira. He told me that she was pregnant.”

I groan, “That explains why you brought London Boy on the boat.”

She nods, merging into traffic. “Yeah I don’t know why I did that. I was just jealous I guess and I wanted him to feel how I felt.”

“He was feeling it that day. I’ve never seen him so jealous, so mission accomplished.”

“This is all your fault,” she snaps. “All those years you were obsessed with Colson and leaving me. You were leaving me with Reiss. So if there’s anyone to blame it’s you.”

I scoff, “As if. You do not get to blame this on me.”

“Fine,” she huffs. “It can be Colson’s fault for being so hot.”

I shrug, “That’s fair.”

“How are you guys?”

I relax into the seat of the car, slouching down, “No change because we can’t risk Reiss catching on without Colson having the chance to talk to him about it, but he told me he loves me.”

She all but squeals, “He did!?”

“Yes. It was everything I imagined it would be, felt exactly like I thought it would.”

“Was it amazing?”

“No…” I can’t help but hide my smile. “It was perfect.”

“Like normal perfect or One Direction perfect?”

I know she means the song but I can’t help but cackle at her attempt to include Harry Styles at every opportunity she can. She’s just as weird as Reiss.

I think about the moment that Colson told me that he loved me, that he’d never want to see me with anyone else when I was clearly his. I’d always felt the exact same way about him.

I’d always be his.

“Yeah Stas, One Direction perfect.”