Untimely Love (Book 3)

♠Chapter 36♠

"Do you hang out a lot? You and the guys?" Ari asked, her hand tightening around mine as she tried and failed to pin my thumb down.

I didn't remember how exactly we ended up playing thumb war, but I knew it was the first option to stop us from stumbling into constant awkward silences. It's been working so far. We were facing each other, her left leg and my right resting in the hammock, pressing into one another.

"As much as we can," I told her, pressing the tip of my thumb against hers. "It's hard sometimes for all of us to be together every time we want to but we make it work."

She seemed hesitant when she added, "And Julia?"

I hadn't predicted that. My gaze lifted from our hands to her face. Her thumb clamped down on mine. Unlike the other two times I let her win, she didn't cheer her victory. We sat there until I remembered she asked a question.

"Not as much these days."

"Oh," she said softly. She stared blankly at nothing. I felt the heaviness of her hand going limp.

Slowly, I lowered our hands, resting them on my thigh. "She spends a lot of her free time with Kolton, is all." It wasn't a lie but I didn't believe it was the entire truth.

The last time we all hung out together as a group was back home during spring break. It had been normal enough, but there were moments when the girls went distant and didn't speak to each other but we didn't push them. The last time Jules hung out with us in New York was a few weeks ago. I hadn't thought about it much, but now that I was, it was time we guys started getting a bit more pushy.

"What happened?" I asked. "In December?"

"You know what happened," she murmured.

"I have an idea."

She sat up suddenly, projecting confidence. "I expect them to not want me around after everything, you know?" She shrugged. "I'm not mad about it because it's valid. But she said, she thought, I pretended to be friends with them to get closer to you?"

Everything clicked then; why Jules had been so upset back then. Why she probably didn't hang out with us as much anymore. I was only speculating on the second thing though. I really hoped her distance had nothing to do with that, I wasn't sure I could handle it. Because we should be stronger than that, especially when it came to breaking years of friendship.

"Ah," was all I could say because my mind was running through all the interactions Jules and I have had these past few months. And the lack of them too. I'd spent more time with Angel than Jules this semester. As much as I adored Angelica, I couldn't let that slide.

"Why would I even do that, I met you first." She wasn't angry. If anything her voice was filled with wonder as if she couldn't even believe anyone could think that. "And you were-"

At her abrupt cut-off, I blinked and focused on her again. Ariana bit her lip, eyes meeting mine before she quickly looked away.

"What?"

She shook her head. "Doesn't matter."

I cut her off this time before she could change the subject. "Of course, it does. Tell me," I demanded softly.

One of the changes I'd seen in her over the hour or so we'd been talking was that she was still stubborn, but reluctant. In the past she used to be more stuck in her ways—if she made her mind up about something that was it (not counting when it came to her parents that was). Now, though, she seemed hesitant to keep things to herself. Like right now. She wanted to tell me what she'd been about to say—by the way she chewed on the inside of her bottom lip and scrunched up her face.