Hard

13 Linc

I have never slept with a girl before.

 Never once have I felt the need to chase after someone who wasn't clearly interested and yet I chased her. I got her to admit she wants me, and that she wants to have sex with me but we didn't have sex! We spent hours kissing and holding each other and then sleeping. Is that odd to be doing when we are not dating? There is no protocol for Auden Tate. No study guide for me to look over. 

Prying my eyes open, I notice she is missing from the bed. She must still be out with Sutten getting food. I hear my ringtone go off again and I get up to answer it. "Hello?"

"Linc?"

Fuck me, of course, Devin is calling me! "What's up?" Please, let nothing be up. Let everything be down!

"Where are you? You and Jace both missed class? I was worried..."

"Nothing to be worried about. I had a long night, I suspect that Jace did too."I hear a sigh and then she hangs up without saying anything more.

Auden's phone starts to ring and without thinking, I go to see who is texting her. A notification says Gabe's name with a short message, Liam is out. Call ASAP. Who the hell is Liam?

It is here that I know I should leave this alone. I should put her phone down and sleep until she gets back, but there is a nosey little part of me that wants to know who Liam is. I ignore my good judgment and instead open her laptop. I know her password is TKAMB18 because I needed to use her laptop last week when we were working on our assignment and she told me her password. Only Auden when making a password for Harper Lee's famous novel and her own age. I quickly type it in and browse her desktop. Nothing with the name Liam appears. Damnit! Maybe in her documents? I search the name Liam and a large file appears titled 'old'. When I click it many things open. Pictures, emails, documents, but there is one thing that catches my eye- the picture! The picture she keeps with someone cut out of it, but this version has the whole thing in it.

Auden when she was younger, maybe sixteen, a blonde girl that looks oddly familiar, Gabe, and the tall brunette guy who is very handsome I saw on Gabe's profile. His arm is draped over Auden's shoulder and he is kissing her cheek while a large grin is taking over her face. Gabe and the blonde girl look smiley as well. This girl looks like Auden but not really. She looks like a plastic version of the Auden I know.

I need to know more! He was clearly a boyfriend of hers. Probably the ex-boyfriend she talked about that day we ran into Finn at Target. I click on a slideshow of pictures. Each photo looks like a stock image of the perfect couple on Pinterest. There is nothing that feels real about them together. Liam looks at Auden the way I look at my Xbox as if she is something he loves to own...

I keep scrolling and see many photos of Auden and him together. I finally get to a prom picture and there is no fake smile from Auden. Her long silk pink gown is not matched with a glowing girl but a depressed one. It is quite awful. What happened to you, Auden? Are you still in pain?

"Good morning!" I fall out of Auden's chair from fear she was coming in, but thankfully it is just Jace. He notices me and comes over to lend me a hand up. "What are you doing on Auden's computer?" Shit! What do I say? He must sense my invasion of privacy because he pushes me over and studies the screen. "Linc! Why are you snooping?" He clicks out of everything and deletes my search history. Shutting down her laptop, he yells at me for looking through her things. I don't blame him. I bet I looked really creepy when he walked in. "Okay, everything looks good now. What on earth were you thinking?"

I lay down on Auden's bed and wonder what I was thinking. I just wanted to know more than what she is giving me. "I have no idea." 

"It looked like pictures of an old boyfriend."

"I think it was. Liam. She talked about him once, but she didn't really tell me much."

He sits on her bed down by my feet, "What did she tell you?"

"She just said it didn't end well and she hasn't forgiven him. Not much more than that."

"I get why you're curious, it is obvious that you like her," I sit up ready to protest but he pushes me down telling me to be quiet, "but, you can't look through her things."

"Says the man who looked at her file and your dad's computer!"

He smacks my leg hard and I jump a little, "I feel horrible about that and I didn't even find anything! Sutten scolded me already."

He is right. I should not have done it and even though I didn't find anything, I still feel like I betrayed her somehow. I will tell her what I did. Or I could totally avoid this completely and not say a damn thing. 

Right on cue, Auden and Sutten walk in holding take-out bags. They stare at us confused because Jace's hand is on my thigh and once he realizes it he takes it off, "A guy can't comfort his friend? God, stereotypes!"

Sutten burst into a fit of laughter and Auden just smiles. She pulls my arm so I am sitting up and hands me the bag. Inside is blueberry pancakes and sausage links. Thank goodness! I am starving! "Blueberry is my favorite," I tell her as I hold her hand.

"I know," she leans down to kiss me on the cheek, and Jace gasps in surprise. Auden ignores him and jumps on her bed.

"What the hell did I miss?" Jace asks all of us.

"Apparently, quite a bit." Sutten answers.

My left hand plays with Auden's hair and she moves so her head is resting on my lap while I scroll through my phone.

I feel like I'm playing with fire and I'll get myself burned if I don't back off soon. 

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You guys, I love Linc, but never snoop through your crush's things! That is so not hot! On another note, I think Linc and Auden have some serious chemistry and I hope you all do too! 

Love you guys! Thanks for reading and make sure that you like and comment on your favorite part! 

xoxo Michaela