I go still, understanding his anger. His frustration. This isn’t just about me getting involved. It’s about Taylor, what she did to him.

But I’m still stuck on the fact that they’ve slept together. And not just once. Not just prom. It was serious, more than just a couple of random lonely nights. They were together. She was in love with him.

“So you were her first?” I ask just as the light changes.

“Allegedly. Who knows with her?”

He shrugs, like none of this matters to him. But it matters to me.

“Now who’s withholding shit?” I snap, the words like weapons from my mouth. A few heads turn to look back at us, but I don’t care.

“This is different,” Nate says. He finally stops walking. “There was no reason to bring this up.”

I roll my eyes. “Bullshit.”

That seems to surprise him. He studies me, then inhales to speak.

I take a step closer, cutting him off. “I get it now. You want me to stay away from her because seeing her again is stirring up old feelings in you, isn’t it?”

But Nate doesn’t reply to that. He makes a frustrated sound and strides away again, faster this time. I still don’t know where he’s going.

My feet are starting to ache in these heels, but I refuse to stop walking. “What exactly is a few times?”

“Less than a lot?”

“Nate.”

He stops midstride and whips around, his expression incredulous. “B, if I wanted to fuck Taylor again, I would’ve done it already.” His voice is a harsh whisper. Emotion flickers in his eyes, almost too quick for me to catch it, but I do. It’s not anger. It’s disappointment. Resignation. “This isn’t me having unresolved feelings about my ex. I don’t want Taylor. I just know her ways.”

Suddenly, he’s so much taller than I am, and I’m acutely aware of the fact that I’m almost an entire foot shorter than he is.

I believe him. I know he doesn’t want to be with her. At least, a part of me does. The other part can’t see why he wouldn’t—why anyone wouldn’t. Especially when they have history. Feelings just don’t disappear. They evolve, they dissipate, but they can’t ever be truly erased.

I feel like I should say something, but I can’t find the right words. It’s loud and awkward and my feet are killing me and it’s too damn hot out here and then the light changes.

Nate crosses, pausing to look back at me, to see if I’m going to follow.