those years between us

[27] SAFER TO HATE HIM

  THERE WAS A bruise on Cami's neck.

  My eyes narrowed as I studied her, innocently laying down on her sofa, staring back at me with those large, sweet eyes. "How'd you get that?"

  "Get what?" she asked, tilting her head.

  "That bruise on your neck."

  Her hand went to her neck, rubbing the spot subconsciously, before shrugging. "Don't know. Probably bumped into something."

  "Like someone's lips?"

  "Salome Lam!" Cami shot upright. "I cannot believe you're suggesting that."

  "Yesterday was Valentine's Day," I pointed out with a shrug. "You didn't come to find me, so I assume you spent it with someone. And there is a boy with whom you are somewhat romantically entangled with right now, who I know you've been physically intimate with, so the bruise is very likely a—"

  "Salome!" Cami positively squeaked. "Oh my god, you don't need to give a full analysis of it!"

  "So I'm correct? Dean Hui? After you apparently rejected him?"

  She pouted. "Hey, he came to me, not the other way around."

  "That was what I was expecting. And you accepted?"

   "Well, I was bored. And I was curious to see what he had planned."

  "And that led to the hickey?"

  "Oh, don't put it that way," she said, rolling her eyes. "We got a bit carried away."

  "Uh-huh. Sure."

  "What, like you were so chaste with Orion?"

  "Surprisingly, yes. Wait, how do you know about that?"

  "Dean," she flashed a smile. "I wrung it out of him."

  "Wrung?"

  "Sort of forced him into admitting it. They kind of discussed it beforehand, apparently. Made a whole plan for Valentine's Day."

  "Well."

  "Well." Cami tilted her head. "I don't know what to feel about all this."

  "If you already accepted his invitation for Valentine's Day, why are you still saying no to him?"

  To that, she raised a brow. "The same question could be asked of you. You accepted his invite, but you haven't said yes yet either, have you?"

  "My situation is a bit different than yours," I pointed out. "I've known him for years. I can have my reservations about his sudden change of heart."

  "I haven't known Dean for long either, I'm allowed to have my worries on starting a relationship."

  "You've known him since Arrington," I huffed. "And you knew him before we came to Redchester, certainly."

  "Not well."

  "If you knew him that well, then you'd be in my situation. Two sides of the same coin." But then I paused, realising that was the exact analogy Orion had used yesterday, one I'd fiercely denied. Well. Perhaps I was being a bit of a hypocrite. Or perhaps I was just trying to annoy my loved ones.

  Not that Orion was a loved one.

  Or maybe he was.

  Maybe?

  I was just confusing myself now. Which wasn't very good either.

  She sighed. "No need to overcomplicate it. Feelings are completely irrational and there isn't much we can do about it."