Denny’s dark hair was longer than before, his facial hair thicker, it made him seem older, more mature, more in control of himself, but even still, I could feel his simmering anger as he glared at me. It was nowhere near mine though. I know I fucked you over, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to sit back and let you do the same thing to me. My fingers clenched into a fist as I stared at him. Want to go another round, Denny? Because this time…I won’t just stand there and take it. I will fight for her.

Kiera suddenly grabbed my face and turned me to look at her. “A girl at school kissed me! Okay?” she said in a rush.

Her pleading eyes searched mine, and for a moment, the shock of what she’d said released some of my anger. “A girl? Really?” I looked for any sign of a lie, but I wasn’t finding any. The kiss comment was about a girl? It had nothing to do with Denny?

Kiera sighed, looking weary but no longer guilty. “Yes, a girl. Denny and I haven’t done anything wrong. You stepped into a situation that was easy to take out of context.” She began stroking my face, and the compassion and sympathy in her eyes made a large chunk of my anger fade. “But I didn’t kiss her back. I haven’t kissed anyone…but you.”

Is that true? I tried to find any trace of deception on her face, in her voice, but all I could sense coming from her was honesty. Was it really the truth, though? Or had she just become a better liar? But why lie to me now? I’d caught them, busted them in the act…why not just tell me what was going on? Why keep holding onto a secret unnecessarily? That seemed unfairly cruel, and I’d never known Kiera to be intentionally, blatantly cruel. Confused, sure, but not cruel. So maybe…maybe she was being honest. Maybe she wasn’t cheating on me. Please let that be true.

My residual anger downshifted into irritation as I considered the fact that I might have overreacted. Giving her a crooked smile, I tried to lighten the mood. “You got kissed by a girl and I missed it?” Now that the fury was receding, that thought was a little intriguing. I would have liked to see that.

Kiera smiled as she lightly thumped my chest. From beside me, I heard Denny clear his throat and say, “I’ll let you two work this out.”