Secrets and Stolen Kisses

21

m a d e l y n

"Bye," I said into my phone. "I'll talk to you tonight, I love you."

"I love you too, Mimi," Nate spoke before the call ended.

"You hear that, Addie?" Natasha Nilsen, my favorite cousin, laughed from beside me. "She's talking to her boyfriend."

Addie turned around to look at me. "You really need to keep calling him that around me because I'm still not over it."

"Took me a while to come to terms with it too," I shrugged.

"I just can't believe that you and Nathaniel took five whole years crushing the hell out of each other and nobody noticed?" Addie expertly swiped blush on her cheeks. "And I also can't believe we're only finding out after almost three months. How dare you not tell us sooner!"

It was ten in the morning on Thanksgiving, and it was the only day all three of us were free to go out before the big dinner on Saturday aside from tomorrow when we're going out with Nate and Archer. Tasha and I were in Addie's hotel room, waiting for her to finish getting ready.

"He liked me for two and I liked him for five until I finally broke," I clarified. "But yes, I couldn't believe it either. About the wait, it was a secret for a reason, Addie."

Tasha sat up from her comfortable position on Addie's bed. "Two years, five years, whatever. You've been crushing on each other longer than some couples stay married."

"Well, I like to think of it as fate giving us the right timing."

"Mhm, timing," Addie nodded. "Let's go with that."

"After making you wait so long for this timing, is he treating you right, at least?" Tasha gave me a look. "Because I swear—"

I cut her off. "You know he does, Tash. You're acting like you don't know what kind of guy my boyfriend is."

"She said boyfriend! Very good, Maddie. It's starting to feel more normal," Addie exclaimed before turning back to her makeup.

Tasha rolled her eyes playfully. "I'm just saying, Maddie..."

"We all know Archer wouldn't let Nate treat me any less than I'm worth, and I definitely wouldn't either," I assured her. "You know, just because you've already turned seventeen and I haven't turned eighteen yet doesn't mean you have to protect me like this."

"I just love you too much to see you get hurt," Tasha hugged me.

Addie put her brush down and joined in on the hug. "We both do, you know that. So if that boy tries anything, you know we have your back."

"Of course, I know that," I smiled. "So stop making me so emotional or I'm gonna start crying and then you two are gonna start crying and then we'll have to sit here for another half hour waiting for Addie to redo her makeup."

"Oh stop, it's been like ten minutes," Addie laughed. "But speaking of trying things and having boyfriends, gonna tell us how far you've gotten with Nate or what?"

Tasha giggled. "Took the words right out of my mouth."

I raised an eyebrow. "What makes you say we've gotten anywhere?"

"You expect me to believe that two teenagers who've had the hots for each other for that long haven't gotten to at least like third base by now?" Addie countered.

"Not to mention the pent up sexual frustration because you two decided to keep it a secret for over a month," Tasha added.

Addie pointed at her. "Exactly."