My head dropped to the table as I laughed. “No…oh my God…no, he doesn’t…” I couldn’t even finish, I was laughing too hard. Hailey started laughing with me, once she realized she’d gotten it wrong. Matt was obviously unaware of the nature of my conversation as he chatted with Rachel, but I could easily picture the look on his face if he’d heard her say that—the half annoyed, half amused twist of his lips, the slow shake of his head, the epic eye roll. Matt was many things…but attracted to me was not one of them.

Hailey and I moved on to other topics after that, her school, Riley, but every so often I’d break out in a fit of giggles. Does he want you? That was going to entertain me for a long time.

On the last night of Jenny and Rachel’s visit, we all decided to go to a club. The thumping music made me miss Kiera. I didn’t feel like dancing, so I spent the bulk of the night hanging out by the bar, drinking. Girls approached me, asking me to dance, but I turned them all down. Jenny nodded her approval when she spotted me rejecting someone. I rolled my eyes at her. Of course, I said no, Jenny. I always say no.

For a split-second, I debated asking Jenny if she knew what was going on with Kiera. Would she tell me? I hadn’t been able to flat-out ask Jenny to spy on Kiera for me, but I felt like the message had been implied. It also felt wrong. Kiera had asked for my belief in her. Going behind her back to discover the truth would only prove that I didn’t believe in her…that I didn’t believe in us. I didn’t want that to be true. I wanted us to be…solid.

I had no choice but to trust Kiera and hope she wasn’t doing anything that would hurt me. Maybe, like my secret, whatever she was hiding had nothing to do with our relationship. I still had no clue what that secret might be but thinking about it that way brought me comfort. I could let this go. I had to.

Right after deciding not to ask her anything, Jenny tossed her arms around my waist. “Kellan,” she said, clearly drunk. “I’m so glad you’re with Kiera.”

“Thanks?” I said, chuckling as I gave her a brief hug.

Giggling, she let me go. “I’m just glad you fell for her. Because I love her. And some of those other girls you,”—she paused to use air quotes—“…dated…” She lifted an eyebrow as she continued. “They were skanky, Kellan. It would have driven me crazy to be around them all the time.”