Page 28 of The Truths We Burn

I’m not the only person that noticed Lena’s beauty either.

Easton’s greatest family shame is that Wayne Caldwell enjoyed helping himself to Lena’s beauty every Saturday at the country club for an entire two years before anyone even noticed.

He would kill me if I ever muttered a word about it, because if Alistair Caldwell found out, he would take Easton to the grave with disgrace. The town would smile in their faces, but they would be part of the rumor mill for years.

I only know because Easton had gotten drunk after a party our freshman year. He spilled it when he was cussing about the Hollow Boys and their ratty prominence.

It’s one of my biggest secrets inside my jar of blackmail, and he knows if he takes a step too far with me, I’ll tell everyone.

“Not a little boy, Mom.”

“I know, sweetie. I just—”

“Speaking of being a man, I think it’s about that time, Easton, don’t you think?”

I knew something was wrong when we walked into this house.

But it would seem that was because I was the only one who hadn’t been told what was about to happen.

“Time for what?” I ask softly, taking a drink of my water, looking around at all the eyes that are on me.

There is an uncomfortable stillness that makes me shift in my chair. I set my glass down. “Is there something I’m missing or…?” I laugh to try to lighten the mode that has settled in the room from their blatant stares.

You know when you don’t want to turn around because you know the slasher in the horror movie is standing there, so you try to avoid it?

That’s what I do as I hear the chair next to me squeak. I hold my gaze with my father, who is trying to look everywhere but at me.

“Sage?” Easton clears his throat, attempting to grab my attention.

My mom’s eyes are lit up, dimming the longer I refuse to turn to face him. My ears fill with fluid, rushing with thunderous movements. I can taste the water in my lungs growing higher, the urge to cough heavy, the need to breathe without my chest feeling like it’s being compressed by a semi-truck.

I spin, painfully slow, a broken clock on its last rotation, to find the boyfriend I’m only dating for status down on one knee holding an ungodly large diamond that is going to send me into an epileptic fit.

Waves and waves of water submerge me.

Dark, cloudy water that eats me up, pulling me further from the light.

I’m drowning in front of all these people, and not a single one cares enough to pull me up for air.

“Sage?” he says again. “Did you hear what I said?”

I’m not sure what is worse—the silence or how confident he looks. There isn’t a drop of sweat on his forehead, and he isn’t shaking. It’s like he knows I won’t say no.

“Are you proposing to me right now?” I say with what oxygen I have left inside of me.

“Well, I have the ring, and I’m on one knee, so…” He grins, nodding his head.

I had been flawless all night. Kept my composure, done what needed to be done to get through this dinner, but this? This is too much, even for me.

“We’re eighteen, East. We haven’t even graduated high school yet. I don’t think this is the—” I grind my teeth, a nervous chuckle escaping me. “—right time for this.”

“Babe, come on.” He waves off all my warning signs. “We’ve been together since middle school. This is no big thing.”

It’s then he grabs for my hand, pulling it closer to his chest to slide the ring onto my finger, but I jerk it back from him as if he’d tried to burn me.

“Mom, Dad, I can’t.” I look to my parents, watching their faces, seeing the truth in front of my eyes in big, bold, flashing neon lights.

“You knew this was going to happen today, didn’t you?” I direct towards them, averting my stare to Easton’s parents. His mother looks nervous, and his father seems annoyed by my lack of excitement.