Wyatt
THORNE

“Keep up, Lia, we’re almost there,” I called behind me. 

“Where are you taking me, Wyatt? I don’t do this.” 

I laughed under my breath. ‘This’ to her was hiking. We weren’t hiking. I drove her about ten miles from the lake house to a little spot I found and knew she would love. Maybe not as much as she loved her bathroom though. When I saw her face light up like that, I knew I made the right choice. She used to make me watch those HGTV renovation shows a lot when we were younger. She told me repeatedly what her dream home was; especially her bathroom. She always told me she was a long-soaking-bubble-bath type. I wanted to do something nice for her, and when my parents told me they were buying this house, the idea hit me. 

Obviously, this wasn’t her home, but if she and Logan stated together, then she would be coming here a lot. Christ. Logan. Seeing her with my brother was the hardest thing I’ve ever experienced. I couldn’t be mad at her for it. Or blame her. I was the one that put my foot down on any possible romantic anything between us. I remembered that fucking day so clearly and I wished I did it differently. But, I didn’t. I was scared. Scared of something happening that would cost Lia and I our friendship. 

I was going to kiss her that day. I was going to tell her how I felt and I was so close. But just as my lips barely brushed hers, she beat me to it. She told me she was in love with me and I broke into a cold sweat. Panic struck my chest like a tidal wave-- and I reacted. I told her I didn’t feel the same, then I moved across the country. I tried getting over her. I tried dating. But no one compared to her. I’ve known her since we were kids. I knew everything about her. We knew each other’s secrets. But I fucked everything up. 

Now, she was dating my brother. Fuck! When I first heard about that over the phone, I threw up. The thought of Logan kissing Lia or touching her made me sick. I loved my brother, and Lia was amazing, but I was not okay with it. At all. I pretended to be--for them. I kept my feelings in check. I was still Lia’s best friend and that would never change. It just killed me. I thought about staying in California and getting a job there after graduation, but I knew it wasn’t really what I wanted. I wanted to be home. I wanted to be around my family and Lia. 

I thought I was going to be fine when I saw her. But she had to wear that damn black dress. Everything I did to prepare myself went out of the window. Then she hugged me. She felt just like I remembered. She sounded just like I remembered. She had that same flowery perfume scent that I remembered. Then there was the panic attack she had. They started when she was eleven. They got worse in high school. What happened at the restaurant was the worst I had ever seen. 

The past few days I felt guilty about the almost-kiss we had in her bedroom. We were both wasted and I didn’t even know if she still had feelings for me. Besides, she was with Logan. I repeated that to myself over and over again every damn day.

I ran my hand over my face. I needed to get a girlfriend or something. Just find someone I could get along with and make it work. Then, eventually, I could probably get over her. No. I WOULD get over her. I just needed to make sure there were no more almost-kisses. 

“Wyatt! How much further?” 

I stopped and turned. Lia placed her hand against the trees she passed so she wouldn’t fall. She stepped over rocks and large tree branches as she got closer to me.I wondered if she actually put a bathing suit on. She said she did. I couldn’t tell because she had on shorts and a t-shirt. 

“We’re almost there,” I said as I waited for her. 

When she finally caught up to me, she stopped and narrowed her eyes. “Did you bring me here to...you know,” she ran her finger along her throat. 

“To kill you? Wow, Lia,” I laughed, “that’s a new one. Besides, I couldn’t kill you. I would have to train a new best friend, and who the hell has time for that?” 

She playfully pushed my shoulder. “Then where are we going? Give me a hint.”

I smiled. “There’s water.” 

She rolled her eyes at my answer. She knew that already. We started walking again and she let out a nervous breath. “Wyatt? Are there doctors out here? I mean-- in the area of the lake house.”

“Lia, nothing will happen to you, I promise.” 

“No,” she said and pulled me to a stop. She seemed to have trouble looking at me. “I’m talking about my panic attacks.” 

Okay...I was not expecting that. “Uh, yeah. I think so. I can check into it. Are you sure you’re ready for that?” I hoped she was. I always worried she would have a bad one when I wasn’t around. She had trust issues and she hated taking medication. This was a big step for her. 

“I think I need to go,” she answered and finally met my gaze. “If you find someone, will you come with me?” 

“Of course, I will, Lia.” 

She let out a relieved breath. After about five more minutes of walking, we finally made it out of the clearing. When she saw the waterfall, she gave me a sheepish look. “A waterfall, Wyatt? Are you serious? How the hell did you find this place?” She turned to me and nibbled her bottom lip. “You are just full of surprises.” 

“I told you it’s a good surprise.”

We walked to the edge and started to take our clothes off. We put them in the book bag I brought and set it down. I was in my swim shorts and she was in-- fuuuuuuuuuck meeeeeeee. A little black bikini. Something caught my eye and I couldn’t stop myself from walking up to her. 

“What is it?” she asked curiously. 

My heart was hammering in my chest. “What’s this?” I carefully pulled down the top of her bikini bottoms just enough to expose the heart tattoo on her hip. 

She blushed and it was extremely sexy. “Oh, I got that in college. I, uh -- lost a bet.” 

My eyes widened. “You lost a bet? What bet?” 

She turned away and walked closer to the edge of the waterfall. “I can’t tell you that.” 

“Excuse me? You can’t tell me? Lia, we tell each other everything.” 

“Fine.” She turned to me with an impish expression. “You have to catch me first!"

She took off running towards the bottom of the small hill. I chased after her and caught her just before she made it to the bank. I reached around her and circled my arms around her waist. She squealed playfully when I picked her up. She wiggled her body and it caused me to lose my balance and we fell backwards into the lake. We laughed as we surfaced out of the water and she brushed her long dark hair out of her face. 

“I caught you,” I teased. “So, spill.”

I could tell she was super embarrassed and wasn’t totally comfortable telling me. It made me want to know all the more. To be honest, I couldn’t believe she had a tattoo. Then she said she lost a bet. What was she hiding? 

She ran her hand over the surface of the water before she finally started telling me the story. “Okay, so it was freshman year. I had just met my roommate that I was sharing a dorm with, and she invited me to go out with her friends.” Lia tilted her head back and soaked her hair. I pretended not to notice as she continued. “We went to this bar and they all wanted to try to pick up a guy and take them home.” 

Warning bells went off in my head. I didn’t like the sound of that. “Wait, they wanted you to pick up some guy and sleep with him?”

“Not all the way. They basically wanted us to do a dine and dash, but with sex. If that makes sense.”  She shrugged her shoulders. “I wasn’t comfortable and didn’t want to get involved, so I lost the bet and got the tattoo.”

“Why?” I asked incredulously. “Why get a tattoo?” 

“To save face, of course. Besides, it’s cute.” 

I laughed as I shook my head at her. “You are something else. Why didn’t you ever tell me?” 

She cocked her head to the side. “I don’t know, actually. I mean, it was right after we started college. We were both kind of busy around that time. Just never came up.” 

Translation: it was very soon after I told her she didn’t really love me and we would only be friends. Why the hell would she tell me? I hurt her. I knew I did. I fucking fucked up. 

“Well, I’m glad you told me,” I admitted. It was the truth. I hated when we weren’t open with each other. 

“Me, too. You know, it’s weird because--” Her words were cut off with a scream and she jumped in my arms. 

“Lia, what the hell? Are you alright?” 

She wrapped her arms around me and stared into the water. “There's something in there. Something touched me.” 

I looked at her plainly. “Lia, this is a lake. There’s probably a thousand things in here.” 

“Get me out of here, Wyatt. Please.” I could hear the genuine fear in her voice and I felt bad. I tried to stand her back on her feet so we could get out and she clung onto me tighter. “No! You can’t put me down.”

“You want me to carry you out?” 

She looked at me like my question was ridiculous. “Yes! Quickly!” 

I let out a long breath as I walked us out of the water. Once we got to the shore, I set her down on her feet. Instinct took over and I reached out to stroke her cheek. “You okay?” 

Her eyes met mine and I realized that we were standing close together. Really close together. I needed to move my hand from her face. Like, now. But I didn’t. There was that same familiar connection between us that wasn’t going away. When my eyes dropped to her lips, she made the terrible mistake of licking them. Unable to resist her, I leaned down. Just like before, it felt like I didn't have any control over it. We were a breath apart when I heard her gasp and cry out. 

“Ouch!” 

“What? What happened?” 

She started hopping on one foot and she reached out to place her hand on my shoulder to steady herself. “I think I stepped on something in the lake.” 

“Let me see.” I helped her into a sitting position and tried to examine the bottom of her foot. My heart was hammering in my chest from what almost happened. Again. Dammit, this couldn’t keep happening. I sighed when I saw a little blood on the bottom of her heel.

“Well? Do you see anything?” 

“Yeah,” I answered as I put her leg back down. “You must have stepped on something. It’s bleeding. I have some antiseptic and bandages in my bag. I’ll clean it up and we’ll head back down.”

I carried her up to where we left our belongings and quickly doctored her foot. I waited while she put her socks and sneakers back on. She tried to take a few steps and nearly fell. I caught her and scooped her up into my arms. Again.

“There might be something in your that makes it hard to walk. I’m going to carry you down. I don’t want it to go in any deeper.” 

“Damn. Okay. I’m sorry, Wyatt.”

I scoffed at her. “Why the hell are you apologizing to me? I’m the one who brought you here.” She went to say something and I spoke first. “Lia, it’s all good. We’re good. Let’s get this foot looked at, okay?” 

She nodded and laid her head against my shoulder. Fuck. Carrying her right now--being this close to her--was not a good idea. We had a long way down to the car. This was not going to be fun.