I lie on the bed, half awake and half asleep. It’s been a long day, and I still can’t wrap my head around what happened.

I’m on the verge of settling to sleep when someone knocks at the door.

“Come in,” I say as I sit up.

Stella walks in the room in her sleeping attire. “Did I wake you?” she asks.

Yes. “No,” I say, “Do you need anything?” In the middle of the night?

Stella is standing hesitantly beside the door. I can’t see the expression on her face because it’s dark, and the only light comes from the clock on the side table.

“Do you mind if I switch on the lamplight?” she asks.

“No, go ahead,” I tell her.

It doesn’t matter if I’m tired, if my eyes are already drooping. It’s your house; you can do whatever you want to.

“I want to talk to you about Nate,” she starts, taking a sit beside me on the bed. I scoot over to make room for her.

“What about him?”

“You told me he’s single.”

I nod. “He is.”

“I read his posts on his blog,” she says quietly.

“And?”

I stopped reading Nate’s blog after I told him my secret. I don’t know why, maybe because I can talk to him in person whenever I want to.

“He kept on posting about this—“

The ringing of my phone interrupts her.

“Sorry,” I tell her, and then I answer my phone without checking the caller ID.

“Happy thanksgiving!”

Nate?

Speak of the devil.

I’m about to say his name when I notice that Stella is watching me.

“Hey, happy thanksgiving,” I say as normally as I can.

“How did you celebrate it?” I can hear the worry in his voice. “You’re alone! Aren’t you scared staying all by yourself in the house?”

I bite my lip. I forgot to mention that I’m here at KY’s. And it’s something I can’t just drop while on the phone.

“I’m okay,” I say. “How are you? Why aren’t you sleeping?”

“The night’s still young,” he says. “What about you?”

“Just getting ready—“

“Sorry, I must have woken you.” I can see him smiling. “I’ll call again tomorrow to check up on you.”

“Alright.”

“Try not to miss me.”

I scoff. “Yeah, right.” It’s so easy to talk to him. Words just flow out of my mouth smoothly.

“Good night, Bri.”

“Good night,” I say, Nate.

We stay like that, listening to each other’s breaths. And then I click the end button when I realize he’s not going to do it.

“Who was that?” Stella asks curiously. “Was he your boyfriend?”

I shake my head quickly. “He’s just a friend.”

“You had this huge smile on your face while you were talking to him,” she says wryly.

“I did not smile!”

She ignores me. “Besides, a friend will not call you in the middle of the night to ask about your day.”

“He is a good friend.”

She rolls her eyes. “Okay, fine. I won’t mention it to my brother.”

My mouth goes dry. Suddenly, I need a glass of water. “This doesn’t have anything to do with your brother.”

She smirks. “I saw the way you look at him.”

“At Kyle? Is it obvious?” I close my mouth when I realize I asked the question aloud.

“Of course,” she says. “My brother is too narrow-minded to catch it.”

I sigh. I want to crawl under the covers.

“Don’t worry; I won’t broadcast your secret.”

My head snaps up. “Thank you,” I say gratefully. Maybe Stella is not as brat as I thought.

She raises her forefinger. “I’m not going to do it for free.”

I frown. “What do you mean?”

“You’re going to tell me everything about Nate,” she says, her eyes widening in excitement.

I look at her to check if she’s kidding, but she has a serious expression on her face.

This girl is crazy. She’s a real stalker. I caught a glimpse of her room a few hours ago when I was searching for the bathroom. There are photos of Nate on her wall. She even has a pillow with Nate’s face engraved on it.

“If you’ll not help me make Nate fall in love with me, I’ll tell my brother that you like him,” Stella says in a serious voice.

What?

“Is that a threat?”

She shrugs. “Do we have a deal?”

I move away from her. She’s a psycho.

How can Mrs. Swift have a daughter like her?

Does KY know his sister is still pining over his best friend?

“I just can’t tell Nate that he should fall in love with you,” I say exasperatedly. “And what if he already likes someone?”

Her eyes flash with jealousy. “Easy,” she says after a while. “I will throw her out of the picture.”

Maybe she’s really crazy. How can a teenager think like this? And how old is she again? She sounds like an obsess fangirl.

Why can’t she be contented by being Nate’s friend?

Nate told me that Stella is just a sister to him; his best friend’s little sister.

I take a deep breath and ask her, “What will you do to the girl?”

“It’s none of your business,” she says, flipping her hair.

I grit my teeth in frustration.

Now, she has the upper hand.

I can’t just let her tell KY that I like him. Even though we’re on speaking terms now, and we spent a couple of hours alone a few hours ago, doesn’t mean he’ll be okay with this situation.

He can’t know, especially now that things are finally—

“Deal?” Stella repeats.

“Alright,” I say, clenching my fists under the blanket.

Stella smiles sweetly and gives me a peck on the cheek. “We have a deal,” she says. She gets up from the bed and walks towards the door. “I know about their rules,” she adds before stepping out of the room. “Once my brother finds out you like him, you’re out.”

How did she know about the rules?

“Good night,” she says, “sister.”

“Good night,” I say, bitchy witchy sister.

*****

No, you didn’t miss anything. I didn’t skip a chapter. You’ll find out why it’s like this on the next update ;)

The song for the chapter is Dirty Little Secret by The All American Rejects.