Forgotten Truths (The Forgotten Truths Series) Read Free

continued to stare at me. “What do you think I mean? And why do you step away from me anytime I want to touch you? If I’m your best friend, then shouldn’t I be allowed special privileges?”
    “You are my best friend, and that’s all you are to me. And I don’t like anyone touching me. It has nothing to do with you. It’s everyone.” I felt like I always had to restate this with him. I didn’t like feeling defensive, but he’d made me feel that way a lot lately.
    He took a step toward me, but I took another step back. He noticed, and a frown appeared on his face. He kept coming until I was backed up to the railing. I started to get very uncomfortable with this conversation and being backed into a corner didn’t help.
    “Andy, you and I have a relationship a little stronger than best friends. You can’t deny that. And I don’t want to be apart from you.”
    “When are we ever apart?” I started to look away, but he quickly cupped my chin.
    “That’s not how I meant that.”
    I tried to lift my head out of his hand, but he held on a little tighter. I reached up and grabbed his wrist, but he was stronger. I started to struggle while a minor panic started to rise inside of me. “Let go of me.”
    “Not until you tell me what you’re thinking.”
    “I’m thinking that if you don’t let go right now, I’m going to scream.”
    “And what would that do?”
    The panic was rising, as was my anger. The anger started to overpower the panic, and suddenly I was out of his hold, setting some much needed space between us. I’d hit him before, but it wasn’t very often and it had never been for this reason. The punch hadn’t meant to hurt him, not that it did. He had hard muscles across his midsection so I knew it would have taken a much harder punch to harm him. It was more to catch him off guard so that he’d let me go. He tilted his head and examined me with a confused and annoyed expression. I could see in his eyes that he was rethinking his strategy.
    “I started this all wrong. Well, maybe not started it, but it didn’t go as I planned. I’m going to start over.”
    I wasn’t sure what to say, so I just stayed where I was and kept quiet.
    “I’ll start from the beginning. I really like you, Andy. I know you think of me as just a friend, but we could be so much more than that. Please just think about it.”
    I couldn’t shake the unsettled feeling I had in my gut, but I nodded anyway. After all, he was my best friend. Maybe there was some sense to what he was saying. I didn’t know anything about relationships, but maybe he did.
    “Okay, ” I said quietly.
    “Okay as in you agree or okay as in you’ll think about it?” He looked hopeful.
    “Okay as in I’ll think about it.”
    He sighed, but it was more out of relief than anything. He started to come toward me again. My body automatically tensed. He noticed, but continued forward. He stopped right in front of me, and it made me so uncomfortable that I couldn’t look up at his face. When he stood this close, I couldn’t help but notice how much taller he was. My eyes were level with his shoulders. I felt a chill go down my spine. I wasn’t sure if this was how you were supposed to feel around someone who had just confessed his feelings toward you, but I didn’t think so.
    “Don’t be scared of me,” he said softly as he leaned his head down to look in my eyes. When I returned his gaze, he smiled lightly.  “Come on, I’ll walk you downstairs.”
    After I settled into my hammock, I started to think about what Mark had said but stopped. I didn’t know anything about relationships. I didn’t fully trust Mark either, but maybe everything he had said was correct. But why would this matter cause a fight between him and Jason? Jason was smart, so if something like this was unsettling to him, then maybe it was the same reason why I wasn’t so sure about it. I lifted my head and looked down a couple rows where Jason was. His arms were