Page 35 of The Deception You Weave

"It's okay to miss something even if it never belonged to you. Even if it's just a memory."

Her words hit me like a fucking truck.

I know she knows something, but she doesn't know everything or just how hard those words hit me.

Tears burn the backs of my eyes and I fight to keep them down, not wanting to drown in the past when I should be focusing on my future.

I nod. I know. Although I'm not sure any of our memories are worthy of being remembered.

I quickly think back to an easier time, of playing on our bikes around the trailer park, of hot summers and wading pools and ice-cold buckets of water.

A smile pulls at my lips. So maybe they're not all worthless.

"You are getting that, right?" she asks, changing the subject.

I look back at myself and genuinely smile at what I see in the mirror.

"Yeah, I am."

"Confidence looks good on you, Let. I'm gonna try a couple of others, I'm not one-hundred percent on this."

"Okay."

I change back into my jeans and shirt, foregoing trying on the rest of the options I brought in here with me, knowing that none of them are going to compare.

We all pay for our choices before heading to look for three killer dresses.

Amazingly, in less than an hour, all three of us are swinging bags from our fingers as we laugh at the messages Brax and West are sending us demanding to get a sneak peek at the night's outfits.

"So you're telling me that you've all lived together for over two years now and none of you have screwed?" I ask them as we sit down with trays full of tacos.

"Nope. There has been no sexy times with the guys."

"Not through their lack of trying though." Violet laughs, making me think of Brax's more than blatant offer before Luca and Leon's party the other weekend.

"They're hot, I can't believe you've never even got close."

"Oh, there might have been close calls," Ella sheepishly admits before Violet bursts out laughing.

"Oh my God, that game of Twister freshman year."

"And that is the exact reason why Brax wants you. A shove in the right direction that night and he'd have just slipped right on in there."

Violet looks like she wants to argue, but after a beat, she just shrugs. "My skirt was way too short for Twister."

"And your panties covered nothing."

"Meh, good times."

"Seriously though, we're all family now. It's not like that with us," Ella says once she's finished laughing.

"So you wouldn't go there?"

They both narrow their eyes on me.

"No, why? Do you know something we don't?"

I think about Micah's reaction to Ella sleeping around in my first few days. "No, I was just curious."