“. I’d known from that first time we’d talked on the steps at my dad’s beach house that she was a good girl, and I’d liked that about her – so much.”

“Emily wasn’t supposed to be someone I thought about months later. She was supposed to be a fun distraction, like all the other nameless and faceless girls I’d hooked up with over the years.”

“Without you, I’m lost, fumbling and fallingMissing so much of who you wereIf I could change the past, I’d take it all backI’d turn back time, I’d take away the painI’d make sure I didn’t leave without you”

“Don’t be sorry,” he said, smirking slightly. “I’d bet that’s the first time in your life you’ve ever been impulsive. Don’t apologize for it.”“Nah” I said, waving my hand in dismissal. “I hauled off and punched a girl a few weeks ago when I caught her kissing my boyfriend. That was the most impulsive I’ve ever been.”

“I’d essentially compartmentalized my life so I could be two different people for a while, but it hadn’t worked in the end.”

“No, I chastised myself. I should be happy for him. I’d let him go. I’d turned down his request to be with me, so now I had no room to judge who he chose to be with. I needed to be happy for him, but I wasn’t. Knowing he was laughing and smiling with someone else, that he was flirting and teasing someone who wasn’t me ignited a feeling inside me that I’d fought so hard to bury. Suddenly, I was drawn to him like I hadn’t been in years, and I couldn’t ignore it.”

“Connor,” I murmured, not sure what to say to him. We were crossing into dangerous territory, and we both knew it.“I don’t think you understand how much I count on you, Abby, how much I need you, and how much I care about our friendship. You’re so important to me.”I didn’t have an opportunity to respond. Before I knew what was happening, he was kissing me, and I was kissing him back, and it was everything I’d imagined it would be when I envisioned us kissing a thousand times.”