I Love You More Than I'm Afraid (Our Forevers #2) by Rebel Hart (the first e reader .txt) 📕

to see Tristan trudge over to the table with Aria and Arden and flop down into the seat. Aria looked over, seemingly picking up on his bad mood instantly, and then I saw her glance over at me before rubbing his back gently. It made me feel even more like shit than I already did. Part of this whole upset that took place when they started dating was that I stuck with him rather than gave into the pull of the status quo.

Maybe I just wasn’t strong enough for it.

I was working on building up my courage to cave and go sit at that table instead when I saw Arden reach across the table and put her hand on top of Tristan’s. She said something to him and his mood completely changed. He seemed really excited and he reached across the table and gave Arden a huge high-five. That seemed to be the shifting point from Tristan being down in the dumps to being in a much better mood. Without me at the table, he was free to interact with everyone without trying to awkwardly bridge the gap between them and me. I was right.

That table was much better off without me there.

“Oh!” Ceradi yelped, bringing my attention back to our table. “Hannah…” She motioned across the table to a guy sitting there that I recognized just from school in general, but I hadn’t had any extended interactions with. “This is Shane. Shane, this is Hannah. Isn’t she a beaut?”

Shane nodded emphatically. “Gorgeous.”

Ceradi squealed and settled into her food like she’d done the lord’s work. “I’m so good.”

Shane wasn’t unattractive by any means. He was tall, maybe just over six feet, and had wispy, auburn hair and hazel eyes. When he smiled, he got a single dimple in his left cheek and his nose scrunched up in a cute way. Broad shoulders and thick arms were indicative of the working out that Ceradi alluded to earlier, though he still carried some weight in his torso. In my honest opinion, he wore it just fine. The husky look was sexy, if I were into that sort of thing.

“We’re actually in Mr. Smant’s class together in the afternoon,” Shane said.

“Oh, that’s right,” I replied. “Sorry. He bores me to tears, so the fact that I didn’t notice you is entirely because I’m normally asleep.”

Everyone at the table bubbled into laughter, which was something I hadn’t experienced as of late. Arden and Aria’s friends were all straight-A students who loved all of their classes and teachers. A joke like that would have completely bombed if not earned me some looks of scrutiny at their table.

“I totally get that,” he said. “Maybe next time you feel bored or something, we can chat to make it a little more interesting.”

I offered him a polite nod and smile. “Yeah. That sounds great.”

There was a little blush to his cheeks as he nodded and returned to his food, and Ceradi elbowed me. When I looked over she wiggled her eyebrows. What felt so uncomfortable at first very quickly became easy. This was what I was used to. Shit-talking, gossiping, getting lost in the superficial; they weren’t Gandhi-worthy conversations, but did they have to be? We were young and just enjoying the one break from school we got throughout the day. It didn’t have to be filled with groundbreaking discoveries or full-fledged debate over which superhero’s cape was more likely to get caught in an airplane.

I’d nearly forgotten what it felt like to just relax during lunch.

I did feel bad about ditching Tristan though, so after school I caught up with him like I told him I would, in order to make nice. It was clear he was disappointed, but didn’t mention it, and rather just gave me a hug and told me he was happy to see me.

“You’re not mad?” I asked. “I didn’t mean to ditch you, I just—”

“If you’re more comfortable at Ceradi’s table, then that’s good. I don’t want to force you to do anything you don’t want to,” he replied. “We’re still friends, right?”

“Of course!” I responded. “You don’t get rid of me that easily.” That actually seemed to bring a little relief to Tristan. Was that what he was fretting over, that my sitting with Ceradi was the beginning of me ending our friendship? “I know it was weird sitting apart, but that has nothing to do with us. We’re good.”

He nodded at that and a smile came to his face. “Good.” He gave me another hug before unwrapping and starting off. “I got a game, so I’ll see you later.”

“Wait!” I called, grabbing his arm to hold him in place. “Um…”

He stopped and watched me carefully, not rushing me to get to what I had to say. “At the table, it looked like something maybe happened? With Arden I mean. You gave her a high-five.”

“Oh,” Tristan said. “Yeah. It turns out Aria’s boss had learned from Aria about the kind of stuff Arden was into. Like the inventing and stuff. She got a tip for an internship that Arden can apply for called the Young Innovators… something. I can’t remember. The acronym is Y.I.I.P. Anyway, it’s a really good opportunity for her. Like a paid internship, but it’ll give her a certification at the end. It’s awesome.”

I hated that I felt like I couldn’t show how excited I was about that. “Wow. I can’t believe that. It’s awesome. I’m surprised that our school wouldn’t promote something like that.”

“Well, it’s not actually here,” Tristan said. “If she gets accepted, then she’ll be moving to New York.”

“What?” I said, my heart sank. “She’d move?”

“I mean, with her parents, she wants to get the hell out of here, and who can blame her?” He frowned at me, picking up on my sudden sadness. “But… ya know. There’s no guarantee she’ll get it.”

I forced a smile, but it was entirely fake. “Who are you kidding?” I imagined Arden’s beautiful creativity and the multitude of things