I mean, did I love spending time with her? Obviously. Did I think about her when she wasn’t around? Of course. Was I dreading our time together ending more than I’ve ever dreaded anything in my entire life? Abso-fucking-lutely.

But that wasn’t love.

Right?

TWENTY-SEVEN

Frankie

I doubled over, gasping for breath for what felt like the ninetieth time this hike. We’d started this as a group but everyone was out of sight by this point. Everyone aside from Harrison. I’d tried to force him to go on ahead, but he wouldn’t hear of it.

“I hate hiking,” he’d said, waving off my comment as if it were ridiculous.

The rest of the group had been twenty feet in front of us for a while. Then it was thirty, then forty. Now they were out of sight.

Oliver was definitely at the front, arm in arm with Elise. The thought made me more nauseous than the hike. I grabbed my water bottle and took another sip.

“We’ll still get there before sunset,” Harrison said, squinting toward the direction of the end of the hike.

“Thank God. I was so worried,” I said, still bent over.

The corner of his mouth lifted. “It’ll be worth it at the end. At least, that’s what Lila always says.”

“She seems like a glass-half-full type of gal.” I straightened up and took one big inhale through my nose before starting on the hike again.

“She definitely is.” Harrison was gruff and covered in tattoos. It would be a lie to say I hadn’t been intimidated by him at first. But the way he watched Lila, always making sure she was okay and not overexerting herself, the way he couldn’t stop his eyes from lighting up anytime he looked at her or anytime her name was brought up—it immediately made me feel comfortable around him.

I was still confused as hell about how this was Oliver’s best friend though. The two couldn’t be any more different.

“She and Oliver probably have a lot in common,” I said.

“They’re exhausting together,” Harrison admitted. “I finally got a break when he left for Key Ridge.” Even as he said those words, it was obvious he missed his friend.

“I can imagine that,” I joked, then quickly backtracked. “I mean, it’s not like I know him that well or anything. He just seems like the type.”

Harrison and I made brief eye contact before I ripped my gaze away to focus on my feet. The view at the end better be worth it because my only view going up was the ground. If I looked up for even a second, I stumbled.

“Look.” Harrison let out a sigh. “I’m going to be straight with you. Oliver told us everything.”

That halted me in my tracks.

“What?” I asked shakily.

“He told us that you two have been hanging out and that he likes you. He said you wanted to keep it a secret, but you should know that Oliver cannot keep a secret to save his life.”