Seasons Change

29.

I turned towards Luke. "So, wait, you were in on this? What about that kiss? I kind of thought you might still have feelings for me."

Luke winked at me. "If you'll recall, you kissed me. And I do have feelings for you, but they're feelings of friendship. You were right to end things between us. We were good together, but we didn't have tons in common. But I wasn't complaining about kissing you, especially since I had a score to settle with Dylan. He did the same thing to me, remember. I couldn't let him win."

I snorted. Of course not. Kissing me to make a point was such a guy thing to do.

Dylan glared at his sister and cousin. "You do realize my team lost to Luke's because of that, right?" he asked.

I smiled up at him. "Aww, I didn't even know you cared about that kiss," I told him.

He smiled down at me, tapping me on the nose. "Of course I did, you goof," he told me. "I only dated Avery to make you jealous. You're the one I wanted. So anyways, I broke up with Avery. Then what, Kels?"

Kelsey was silent for a long moment, biting her lip as she struggled with what to say. "Well, you see," she began, "this is where things start to get interesting."

I quirked an eyebrow, glancing around the room to see how everyone else was reacting to the news. Dylan was sitting there with a smirk on his face, looking a little amused. Zach and Cassie were shaking their heads at Kelsey, clearly not surprised at her antics. And Luke and Madison...didn't look all that surprised.

"So, when things blew up at Thanksgiving, it was pretty obvious that you had no intention of forgiving Dylan anytime soon, Lilly. I needed to nudge things along, so I convinced him to drag you Black Friday shopping with him. I thought spending time with him one on one would get you to forgive him and make you realize he liked you. But, you can be a little dense about that sort of thing. You forgave him, but didn't seem to realize he liked you as more than a friend."

"That's when I recruited Madison. I started having her hang out with Dylan to make you jealous. And, at the same time, Luke was still hanging out with you to make Dylan jealous. I was working both sides of the equation, see?" Kelsey looked a little too proud of herself for this.

I looked over at Madison and Luke, who were both smirking. "You were both in on this? Really?"

Madison laughed. "I couldn't resist. The last time I was part of one of Kelsey's schemes, I was Avery, and you were plotting to get rid of me. I wanted to be part of you getting your happy ending."

The corner of Luke's mouth turned up into a half smile. "I just wanted to mess with Dylan."

"This is so messed up," I muttered to Dylan, who nodded in agreement.

"So yeah, it wasn't a coincidence that Luke came to stay with you for the last week of the semester. I needed to make Dylan jealous, and nothing would make him more jealous than Luke sharing a room with you, even if it was platonic. And I suggested that Dylan ask Madison to the dance, knowing that it would make Lilly jealous, and since Madison was in on it, she wouldn't expect to start dating Dylan."

Kelsey shrugged. "The rest was pretty straightforward. Lilly spent time with Luke and realized he wasn't the guy she really wanted to be with, Dylan finally manned up enough to tell Lilly he has feelings for her, and now the two of you are cuddled up on the couch, acting like the cutest couple ever. You're welcome."

"I can't believe your plan actually worked," I said disbelievingly. "Again."

"You are really manipulative, Kelsey," Dylan added, glaring at her.

I sat quietly, my hand still entwined with Dylan's and he stroked the back of my hand with his thumb soothingly. On one hand, I was annoyed and a little angry that Kelsey, Luke, and Madison had all been so manipulative in pushing Dylan and I together. But at the same time, it was hard to argue with the results. I really liked Dylan, probably more than I had ever liked a guy. Maybe I even loved him, although time would tell.