Page 99 of The Love Interest

We stop at nightfall and park on the side of the road, then find a small clearing and go to set up the tents Juliet and Trevor bought.

Right now, we’re all crowded around the trunk, looking at the three bags. “This is awkward,” says Trev. “We should’ve bought four. Nat and I are going to share, obviously, but…”

“I can sleep outside,” says Dyl. “That’s fine.”

“Don’t be silly,” says Juliet. “You’ll freeze. Caden and I have been friends for…” She slowly closes her eyes, then reopens them. “Actually, yeah, I want to go alone. I’m sorry, I won’t sleep otherwise. And I’m so tired that’s all I want to do. I can’t go another night without it.”

“Let’s set up,” I say. “And then we can decide later. I’m freezing.”

We carry the tents to a small circular clearing, where we drop them. It’s a wide stretch of short grass, broken apart by large gray boulders. The shade from the stones sends long stretches of black across the damp ground.

Trev looks up at the pink sky. “It’s going to get dark soon. We need to set up. Like, right now.”

I grab a two-man tent and then walk to the edge of the clearing. Once I finish assembling the base tent I notice the others are done too, and are now sitting in front of a fire. Dyl isn’t with them.

“How’s it going, Caden?”

Dyl is leaning against a boulder with his hands in his pockets. He detaches from the stone and strides over to me. I start to flatten out the tarp.

“I don’t need help,” I say.

“It’s not that, I know you don’t need help. I just realized I’d be dead right now if it weren’t for you.”

I drop the tarp and meet his stare. “Oh.”

“And I realized I don’t want to be a dick to the person who saved my life.”

“Don’t be dramatic, Dyl.”

“I’m not being dramatic, Caden. Or we’re in a dramatic situation and I’m acting accordingly. So I wanted to say I’m sorry for manipulating you when we were competing. You’re a nice guy, no, agoodguy, and it was mean. You didn’t deserve it.”

Using my foot, I push the last peg into the soft ground. It sinks in easily. This is an apology, which I guess is a good thing, but it hurts because it’s confirmation that everything we had was scripted.

“We agreed early on,” I say, “that we were going to give it our all. Giving it your all meant manipulating me, and I get that, Dyl.”

“I want to ask you something.”

His eyes flick toward the others, huddled around the campfire about fifty yards away. I’d say we’re just out of earshot.

I scratch my forearm. “Shoot.”

“Would you have still saved me if you knew what I was doing? Or did you only save me because you thought we were in love?”

“I never thought we were in love.”

“Tell me the truth, Caden. I know the real you well enough to tell when you bring out the Nice guy.”

I clench my fists, and I feel the blood rush to my cheeks. I wipe the end of my nose with my jacket sleeve. “I don’t know what you want me to say. Yes, Dyl, I was beginning to like you in a way I’ve never liked anyone else, and yes, I thought you maybe liked me back and that was scary and exciting. So I don’t know what I would’ve done if I didn’t like you in the way that I do or if you weren’t particularly special to me. And if that’s the case I’m glad I started to feel that way toward you, because I don’t want to be the type of person who is okay with someone innocent dying. I just don’t. And if feelings for you are what made me wake up and see what’s right and what’s wrong, then I’ll always be thankful for them, no matter how this all ends.”

He’s staring at me.

In the distance, the fire crackles, an orange spark in all the hazy blue.

He breaks eye contact and walks past me toward the fire. I step aside to let him pass. Then he stops and looks back at me. He digs his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

“Just so you know,” he says. His voice is trembling. “You’re a cute guy, Caden. I’m sure you’re going to make some lucky boy really happy one day.”

“Um, thanks?”