I Don't Want to Be Friends

by Camilla Isley

  Scott lowered his fork. “One of?”

  Madison smiled. “Okay, the best.”

  One bottle of wine and one delicious steak later, Scott became suddenly serious.

  “There’s something I want to ask you,” he said.

  “Go ahead.” Madison braced herself for whatever was about to come out of his mouth. Judging from the Heathcliff frown, it was nothing good.

  “David.” Scott stalled for a few seconds. “How did he know about your feelings for me?”

  Madison’s face flared with heat. She already was the blushing type, and after several glasses of wine, it got ten times worse. “Good intuition, I guess?”

  “Why would you confide in him?”

  “I didn’t. But when he flat-out asked, I couldn’t really deny it.”

  “So you two talk often?”

  Madison shifted in her chair. She was about to reply when Scott spoke again. “Should I open another bottle of wine?”

  “Yes, please,” Madison said.

  More wine was essential if they were having the “David” conversation.

  Scott got up and was back in no time with an unopened bottle. Damn, he was sexy as he worked the corkscrew. The cork came out with a loud pop, and Scott refilled both their glasses.

  After they’d both taken generous sips, Scott spoke again. “I’m sorry for the third degree,” he said, smiling. “But given recent events… I need to understand what the deal is with you and my brother.”

  “Fair enough…” Madison nodded. “I guess you could say we’re friends.”

  “Friends? You two were dating last year…”

  “Yeah, for a couple of months. He was a total douche, though, so no regrets there.”

  “But if he was a douche, how can you be his friend?”

  “I told you he apologized… and he can be pretty convincing.” Madison wasn’t sure how to make Scott understand. “We sort of bonded over the situation, you know? He was in love with Haley, I was in love with—” Madison stopped talking, aghast at what she’d been about to say.

  Scott’s emerald green eyes sparkled. “With me?” he asked.

  “You can’t ask me that on a third date.” Madison scoffed.

  “If you consider the first unofficial three, it’s our sixth…”

  “This isn’t fair. You already know more than you should! And I can’t tell you how I feel after such a short time.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because guys run away from strong feelings, and they don’t want to hear how completely obsessed a girl is with them. I’m supposed to play hard to get here…”

  “You’re so cute when you blush,” Scott said. “Did I ever tell you that?”

  Madison’s cheeks burned. “Oh, you’re having fun, aren’t you?”

  “Yes.” He flashed her another grin before turning serious again. “Madison, I spent the last four months of my last relationship like an unwanted guest in my own house. I was with a girl that wasn’t just playing hard to get; she was hard to get. And it was exhausting. All the doubts, the second-guessing, the jealousy… So, I wish my next girlfriend to tell me exactly how strong her feelings for me are, and how completely obsessed she is with me.”

  “In short, you want a full confession.”

  Scott nodded and stared at her. Madison stalled, taking another sip of wine. What he was asking her to do was relationship suicide. He wanted her to lay her heart bare, while he still hadn’t even admitted to anything more than liking her. Madison was seriously tempted to keep her mouth shut. But what would that accomplish? Yeah, she’d save face, but then she’d just keep on being miserable. It had been so hard to conceal her feelings this past year, and now she had an opportunity to let it all out. And if Scott laughed in her face… well, then, she knew the drill: Stay strong and pull through.

  “Okay.” Madison dropped her glass on the table and stared up at Scott. “I’ve had a crush on you since you walked into McDougall’s class freshman year.”

  Scott’s lips parted in a goofy smile. “Really?”

  “Yeah. You had the full attention of the female population the second you walked in. Let’s just say that tall guys of the basketball playing kind are not that common in poetry classes. And then… remember our first assignment?”

  “The sonnet?”

  “Mm-hmm. You wrote that piece about water…” Madison rehearsed the first few lines. “My cold water, you inspire me to write. How I hate the way you flow, lap and rush.”

  “Invading my mind day and through the night,” Scott recited the next line of the first quatrain with her. “How do you even remember that?”

  “I used to annotate all poems, and I liked yours the most… so my crush became certified.”

  “But you never said more than ‘hi’ to me.”

  Madison shrugged. “I’m shy. I don’t talk to guys…”

  “Okay, go on…”

  “Isn’t this enough?”

  “Nuh-uh.” Scott smiled devilishly. “I want the whole story.”

  Madison took another sip of wine. “Last year, when Alice was dating Peter, we started going to Lavietes to watch the games with her. Watching you play was… did I ever tell you how good you look in a basketball uniform?”

  “Just now, I think.” He winked.

  Madison smiled, but then her brain moved on to the next phase.

  “What’s with the sad face?”

  “Well, the next part of the story starts at Christmas…”

  She held Scott’s gaze and recognized the shadow passing behind his eyes.

  “When Alice asked us to go with her to Hawaii, I wanted to go, but my family is… complicated. My grandparents are big on Christmas, and I couldn’t go. But I had this irrational fear that something would happen between you and Haley… and it did.”

  “Did she know how you…?”

  “No, not back then. Alice had guessed it, and she was the only person I could talk to for a long time. And that’s also when things got worse…”

  Scott frowned.

  “Before, you were only a guy in my class I had a silly crush on. But when you started dating Haley, we all started going out together, and I got to know you better… That’s also when you started sitting next to me in class, when we started saying something beyond ‘hi’ to each other, and I fell more and more for you.”

  “But you were already dating David back then.”

  “The first night I went home with David was also the first night I saw you and Haley together. I drank more than I should have, and David was there, as broody as I was. He noticed me, and… I knew it wasn’t right, but you know when you want to do something specifically because it’s the wrong thing?”

  Scott nodded.

  “That was me that night. But dating David didn’t mean I couldn’t still think about you.”

  “And when did Haley find out about… you know?” He gestured between them.

  “At the end of the school year. I got into a huge fight with Alice, and since she was mad at me, she spilled the beans to Haley.”

  “She never said a word.”

  “Because I asked her not to. And, Scott, it was hard on her. It wasn’t fair of me to ask her to keep secrets from you, and she’s felt guilty about dating you from the moment she found out about me. She must’ve hated not being able to tell you why, but she did it anyway because she’s my best friend.”

  They both stood silent for a while.

  “I know the period you’re talking about,” Scott eventually said. “A few things make more sense now. Why did you break up with David?”

  “We got into a stupid fight, and he was dating me only to make Haley jealous.”

  Scott’s jaw tensed.

  “Don’t get mad at him for that. I was dating him to get over you, so I wasn’t really any better. And he’s already apologized for everything he did.”

  “Well, not to me.”

  “No, but when
enough time has passed, give him a chance. I know he’s impossible, but, Scott, he loves you. The day you got into a fight at Blake’s house he was heartbroken over Haley, but the moment it seemed you were about to get yourself involved in a brawl, he was there by your side to back you up. And when they pushed you into the pool… You should’ve seen him. He dove right in and pulled you out, and…”

  “Saved my life.”

  “Exactly. When it looked like you weren’t breathing, he lost it. I’ve never seen anyone so desperate. That wasn’t a lie.”

  There was another long silence as Madison gathered the courage to ask him to clear the doubts she still had about them. His turn to be honest…

  “Are you… are you really sorry about any of what David did? I mean, I know he’s not in the running for brother of the year, but if he hadn’t lied to you about kissing Haley, you wouldn’t have gone to California… and now you would…”

  “…still be dating her,” Scott finished.

  “Is that what you’d prefer? To be with Haley?”

  Scott stood up and rounded the table, taking one of Madison’s hands and pulling her up. He pushed her hair behind her shoulders and cupped her cheeks. Then, looking her straight into the eyes, he said, “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be tonight… with no one else.” He kissed her. “You know when was the first time that I realized the world would keep on spinning after Haley and I broke up?”

  “No.”

  Scott ran his hands down her arms and wrapped them behind her back. “That afternoon with you in the library. You made everything better. Being around you felt… right. Since David told me about you having feelings for me, I haven’t been able to push you out of my head, and I’ve never felt more wanted or serene than I do with you. Madison, we’ve been classmates, then friends, and now… you’re my rock. I spent the last month waiting for our Wednesday nights together… You’re smart, beautiful, kind…”

  Did anyone have a fire extinguisher? Because Madison was sure her face was on fire.

  Scott nuzzled the tip of his nose against the tip of hers. He leaned in to kiss her, but Madison pulled back.

  “I know I’ve said a lot of things tonight, and I don’t want to rush us, but if you want to run for the hills, this is probably your moment.”

  Scott pulled her close again. “I’m not going anywhere. So, that’s it? You’ve left nothing out?”

  Madison bit her lower lip. “Jack London isn’t really my favorite author.”

  Scott’s eyes widened. “But we’ve discussed all his books. You know them almost by heart!”

  Madison smiled shyly. “Well, after I told you I liked him, I had to read them… didn’t I?”

  “I can live with that,” he said with a foxy grin, before killing any further conversation with another kiss.

  Scott scooped Madison up in his arms and carried her to his room, where he laid her on the bed. He climbed on top of her and stopped to look at her. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered.

  And as he leaned his head down to kiss her again, there was nothing or no one holding them back. They’d laid everything out in the open, and even if neither of them had said the three magic words—I love you—they shared a connection so deep it didn’t need to be expressed in words.

  Making love with Scott overwhelmed Madison in ways she wasn’t prepared to handle. Her emotions ran so deep that tears rolled down her cheeks. He didn’t mock her about it, or shy away; he kissed her tears and made her feel like the most beautiful and wanted woman in the world. He made her feel loved, he made her feel finally home…

  Twenty-two

  Ethan

  Three Months Later

  “Can you hold her?” Georgiana dropped a smiling Jane into Ethan’s lap and went to join the queue of new graduates.

  Ethan stared dubiously into the baby’s eyes, not sure he was up to babysitting her for the duration of the graduation ceremony. But then his niece smiled at him, and Ethan found himself cooing over her like a mother hen.

  Lifting his gaze, he caught Rose staring at him with an amused smirk.

  “Baby looks good on you,” she mouthed from across the podium where she was waiting with the other graduates for the ceremony to start.

  Ethan stuck out his tongue, which earned him an enthusiastic chuckle from baby Jane. So he bounced the baby on his knees to make her laugh louder.

  When he looked back up at the line of grad students waiting to receive their diplomas, his eyes drifted to Rose’s left hand, and to the engagement ring he’d given her at Christmas. In three months, she’d be his wife. A proud smile surfaced on his lips. He sure was a lucky bastard.

  Next, his eyes wandered to his sister’s naked hand. No wedding band there, same as Tyler. Becoming a mom had changed Georgiana so much that Ethan hardly recognized her sometimes. She’d matured and stopped acting like a spoiled princess. In just a few months, she’d grown up enough to face her mistakes. She and Tyler had agreed they were wonderful parents, but terrible at being husband and wife. They’d be divorced by the end of the year.

  Ethan stared at his soon to be ex-brother-in-law, wanting to hate the dude for everything he’d done to Georgiana. But he finally had to admit his sister shared a big part of the responsibility, and… If it weren’t for Tyler, Ethan would’ve never met Rose, and now he wouldn’t be holding this bundle of joy in his arms.

  Ethan stared into Jane’s blue eyes—his eyes, Georgiana’s eyes. The past two years had been a mess for his sister, but she’d still managed to graduate on time and give birth to the most beautiful baby in the world… and now she could find someone who really loved her, someone who deserved her and who would make her happy.

  And, yeah, Tyler, too. Provided he kept away from Rose.

  Some things never changed, after all…

  A professor walked on stage and grabbed the microphone to kick off the ceremony. Ethan settled back in his chair and whispered in Jane’s ear, “Look, your mom, your dad, and your aunt-to-be are all about to graduate.”

  Baby Jane replied with a satisfied, “Ghe-ghe-gwakh.”

  David

  David adjusted the angle of his phone, orienting the camera to include everyone in the picture. Five people stared back at him through the lenses, all dressed the same in their black regalia and caps.

  To the left, Scott kept an arm wrapped around Madison’s waist, as did Jack with Alice to the right. And in the middle, one arm around each of her roommates’ shoulders, was Haley. The girl who’d stolen his heart almost two years ago on a starry summer night.

  “Say ‘cheese!’” David yelled, snapping away on the phone’s camera. “Hang on, let me change the angle.”

  He shifted to the left, and the five new graduates rotated their ranks with him to stay in front of the camera.

  “Okay.” David stopped. “Now say, ‘David’s so handsome.’” He snapped another shot and grinned as he looked at the picture flashing on his screen.

  Scott, wearing a half-exasperated smirk. Madison, rolling her eyes. Jack and Alice, staring into each other’s eyes, smiling, and not giving a crap about him. And Haley, her lips pursed to blow him a kiss, her green eyes sparkling with joy in the sun.

  Note From The Author

  Dear Reader,

  I hope you enjoyed I Don’t Want To Be Friends. Thank you so much for following the series to the end! I’m not saying this will be the last book in the series ever, but it will be for a while. Rose, Tyler, Ethan, Georgiana, Madison, Alice, Haley, Jack, David, and Scott all want to say, “Thank you, and goodbye.”

  If you loved their story, please leave a review on Goodreads, your favorite retailer’s website, or wherever you like to post reviews (your blog, your Facebook wall, your bedroom wall, in a text to your best friend…) Reviews are the best gift you can give to an author, and word of mouth is the most powerful means of book discovery.

  If you’re craving more romance, you can turn the page for an excerpt from Love
Connection, the first book in my romantic comedy series First Comes Love.

  Thank you for your support!

  Camilla, x

  Love Connection Excerpt

  One

  Two Weddings

  ♥♥♥

  Saturday, June 10—New York, JFK Airport

  “You’ve been staring at those two plane tickets for almost an hour now. My role as bartender compels me to ask: what’s the big dilemma?”

  I stare at the guy behind the bar for the first time since I sat on this stool an hour ago. He has a broad smile and a friendly face.

  “If you stop pretending to be drying glasses just to peek at my tickets and pour me another drink,” I say, “I’ll tell you.”

  “Sambuca, with ice?”

  I nod and shift my attention back to my tickets. Maybe if I stare at them hard enough, the letters will magically move and spell out a solution for me. In the background, I can hear ice tinkle as it hits the bottom of a glass, then crack when the bartender pours the Sambuca. These sounds mingle with the general noises of the airport: flight announcements, passengers chatting, and luggage rolling on the floor.

  “Here you go.” The bartender sets my drink on the glassy surface of the bar in front of me.

  “You added coffee beans,” I observe. “Nice touch.”

  “Pleased to please. But isn’t 7 a.m. a little too early for double heavy spirits?”

  “I’m on U.K. time, and believe me, I need the double heavy spirits.”

  “Which brings us back to the tickets. I’ve earned an explanation.”

  I sip my Sambuca and take a closer look at the guy’s face. Young—mid-twenties, I’d say. Short sandy hair, intelligent eyes, and always the big smile. He’s back at his occupation of drying glasses that don’t need drying. Probably one of those people incapable of standing still with nothing to do.

  On the screen behind him, a report about a fire at Miami International Airport is taking over the news. The screen reads that the fire has been contained with no casualties, but the airport will sustain heavy delays throughout the day.