“The next day, we both agreed that we liked it, but that we weren’t interested in relationships. So, we kept it casual, until …” My voice trails off.

“Until he said that he was in love with you.”

I nod.

“Wouldn’t it have been nice, though? To be in love?” Wyatt leans forward on his elbows.

“It’s just not for me.”

“Did something happen?”

Yes. “No, I just … I never felt that way for him. Josh was a friend with benefits, not a boyfriend. Besides, I’m sixteen; I’ve got my entire life to fall in love. Why bother with it in high school? Those relationships always fall apart anyway.”

“You don’t think it might’ve been worth a try, though?”

“Listen.” I don’t know why Wyatt is lingering on this subject, but I’m ready for a topic change. “I watched my parents fall out of love. I watched them argue and fight and resent each other. And I saw pictures; they were college sweethearts, so in love, they couldn’t get enough of being together.”

At least, that’s what Mom told me.

“But they got angrier the older they got, and it tore our family apart.”

Wyatt stares at me, unsure of what to say.

“Josh is my friend. One of my only friends. Falling in love means falling out of it sometimes, and I didn’t want to do that to him.”

“You could argue that rubbing his face in a fake relationship might make him angrier.”

“Maybe, but at least then my heart won’t be broken.” I take a sip of water just to give myself something to do. “Okay, subject change, I’m over this.”

“Fine, fine!” Wyatt holds his hands up defensively, smile on his face. “Can I ask you one last question?”

“Is it about Josh?”

“No.”

“Is it about my family?”

He doesn’t answer.

“What is it?”

“You don’t have to answer.”

Well, now I’m curious. “No, ask.”

“Is there anyone in your family who isn’t awful?”

“Besides Lindsay, no. I mean, there were my grandparents—”

“Seriously? They could’ve fooled me.”

“Not the maternal ones you met. My dad’s parents.”

“Oh, were they cool?”

“Yeah.” I can’t help but smile when I think about them. “They basically raised me for the first few years of my life. I spent nearly every weekend with them. My grandma would make me watch all these super-old movies that she loved like Singin’ in the Rain. And my grandpa was the person who taught me how to swim, and we’d garden in his yard, and I’d get really sunburned.”

“That sounds sweet,” Wyatt says.

“Yeah, they’re good people.”

“Why aren’t they here? Or are they coming later?”