Sweetest Secret

Emily

Being the sweet, popular girl next door with a family name everyone knows isn't always what it's cracked up to be. In fact, I'm starting to crumble under the pressure of the facade. I tried to be perfect. I tried to be what I thought everyone wanted, but in the end it only left me lonely. They think they know me. They think they see me, but no one really does. The one person I thought did—my brothers best friend—walked away in the end. I shouldn't be surprised. I always seem to be left alone.

Chase

She thinks I don't see her, when all I've ever seen is her. Her forced smiles and laughter are slowly driving me insane as I bide my time. I want to make them real. I want my girl back. I don’t care what bridges I have to burn to have her. I’ll spend my life proving to her I’m never going anywhere. That I’m the one person she can always count on. In the end, I’ll win, and she will be mine.

Dedication

“Friendships between women, as any woman will tell you, are built of a thousand small kindnesses... swapped back and forth and over again,"

Michelle Obama, Becoming

1

Chase

This is not good. I’m barely hanging on to my control by a thin thread, and now I’m sitting next to the very person that would try to bust my face in if he knew about this thread I’m hanging by to begin with. It’s been this way for a while, but I’m going to snap. I’m so close yet so far from getting what I’ve been waiting for.

It’s been easy to hide my truth from Asher with him on the other side of the world, but now he’s back, and I don’t think he’ll be going anywhere soon. When he landed back in the States from Japan, he said he was going to be in and out as quickly as possible. It’s only a matter of time before I snap, and there is a big chance that is going to happen right in front of him.

What’s the cause of my loss of self-control, you ask? It’s none other than my best friend's little sister. I know. It doesn’t get any more fucking cliché than that. I’ve wanted her for longer than I’m willing to admit even to myself.