What You're Not | ✔

20. Coming Clean

Miles drowsy eyes darted from Cameron to me, his brow rising with curiosity. He knew about my crush, didn't he? With an ego like his I bet he had some sort of sixth sense when it came to girls liking him.

"You can take her home, right?" Cameron asked as his phone dinged again.

Miles rubbed his fists across his eyes. His chocolate-colored hair was a mess atop his head, and paired with his sleepy eyes I figured he'd just been woken from a nap. "Yeah, sure."

My transportation problem solved, Cameron headed off for his date. Leaving me alone with his friend.

"You don't have to take me home," I told him, trying to focus anywhere other than his bare chest. "I can take the bus."

He chuckled to himself as I turned to leave. "See, at first I thought I was just imagining things. Now, it's obvious you've been avoiding me."

It was true, I had been avoiding him the past few days. I couldn't think straight around him. It was happening then as I tried to come up with an answer to his accusation. I should've been pissed at him for leaving the party with Vivian, but he was semi-shirtless and I that made it difficult to hold on to my anger.

I was hoping that he hadn't noticed me dodging him. That he'd been too busy with friend. Maybe he was more perceptive than I gave him credit for. Still, I wasn't about to confess that to him.

Arms crossed, I turned back to him and held on tightly to the bit of anger I could grab on to. "Why would I be avoiding you?" I challenged. Maybe Cameron was right and I needed to give Miles an opportunity to explain what happened.

His green eyes locked on mine, offering up a challenge of his own. But there was a spark of playfulness in his gaze, like he knew something I didn't. "You tell me."

"I'm not." I shrugged, glancing down at Oreo, who was now circling around Miles' feet. "You're being paranoid."

"I thought maybe you were keeping your distance because of what happened on Halloween," he said, after a short silence. "Viv was just looking out for me."

I didn't know if he meant she was worried about his injury or if it was me she was trying to protect him from. She obviously knew about Jerrell. Had she told Miles? Did Vivian think I was trying to play him?

"She worries about me," he continued. "Sometimes it could come off as...jealousy."

He looked like he was biting back on of his signature smirks as he said the word "jealousy". Was he trying to say that I was jealous? Of him and Vivian? I was instantly annoyed.

"She's paranoid too. I guess that's why you make the perfect couple." There was a slight edge in my voice. Why'd he have to bring her up anyway?

His lips turned up into a half smile and all that anger I thought had disappeared flooded my veins. "We're just -"

"Friends. I know," I snapped. He was like a broken record. "Are you going to take me home or..."

The amusement slipped off his face, his brows pinching together. He probably just realized I wasn't I wasn't in the mood for games. "I thought you wanted to take the bus?"

His dismissive tone stung, taking me by surprise . Turning on my heels, I walked over to the door. Only managing to get it opened a crack, before it was pushed closed.

I was all too aware of how close we were as I turned again to face him. So close that I could feel the warmth radiating from him and see the light sprinkle of freckles on his face. I tried to steady my breathing as his green eyes met with my brown ones.