“Wait,” Audrey said, holding up a hand. “You walked in on us kissing?”

That wasn’t right. Clarke had kissed Audrey because Elizabeth was already in his line of sight.

Elizabeth flushed slightly, clearly embarrassed. “I didn’t mean to spy. I was going to head up to my room to get some ChapStick, and when I rounded the corner, you and he were… well, it’s when I realized it wasn’t a game. You weren’t just pretending. And I wasn’t what he needed. I probably never was. Clarke never kissed me like that.”

“Like what?” Audrey couldn’t help but ask.

“Like he’d die if he didn’t kiss me. Like I was the only thing that mattered, the only thing he could see. I guess I always knew on some level that Clarke needed you. I just tried to convince myself when I came back that he needed me, too, but in a different way. I was wrong. I love him, but I love him enough to want him to be happy.”

Audrey shifted uncomfortably, her conscience prickling at the fact that while she believed with her whole heart that Elizabeth and Clarke didn’t belong together, it was also clear Elizabeth had the wrong idea about Audrey and Clarke. Which, when they’d started this, had been the point. But there was a difference between wanting to dodge a manipulative ex-girlfriend and standing in the way of another woman’s happily ever after.

It’s happening again, Audrey realized with a stab of horror. For the second time in her life, Audrey was ruining another woman’s fairy tale. She’d first stolen Brayden from Claire. And now Clarke from Elizabeth.

Not that Clarke was in love with Elizabeth. Audrey would bet anything that he didn’t feel the way about Liz that she did about him.

But what if he’d been given a chance to learn to love her again? What if Audrey hadn’t been in the way?

All this time, Elizabeth hadn’t been playing a game. It hadn’t been about Clarke and Audrey versus Linda and Elizabeth. It had been Elizabeth fighting to win Clarke’s heart, because she loved him. Like Claire had loved Brayden. First.

And once again, Audrey had been second, the other woman in the way.

“Elizabeth—”

“No.” She quickly shook her head. “I don’t want platitudes or sympathy. I just came here because I needed to apologize. And tell you how I never would have pursued Clarke like I did if I’d known how you really felt about him. So I’m sorry. Really sorry.”

“But you’ve always known I’ve loved Clarke,” Audrey said, even as Elizabeth was reaching for the doorknob. “We’ve been best friends forever.”