Pocket Full of Posies

Chapter Thirty-Nine

  I decided against telling Landon about his idiot older brother...and the rift between Evan and Alice. It wasn't my business to tell, anyway.

He knew something was up, though. Without consciously meaning to, I stopped talking to him as much. We didn't text as frequently and I wasn't calling him at all. Any time he'd ask, I'd just tell him I had tests and was distracted. He was kind enough not to push my weak excuses.

To be honest, though, it wasn't just keeping the night at the club from him. Tomorrow marked the first day of his spring break and he was on the earliest flight out. He'd be here for over a week.

Ever since everything went down with Marlena, there was a shift in our dynamic. While apart, I was able to deny it a little more. But being with him in person...it was going to be tough. Even though our growing bond was becoming more and more undeniable, I was still fighting it. Who was I to start anything? It was nice the way it was. Sure, a part of me was curious about what it'd be like to have something more between us...but then that lead to serious relationship stuff. I just wasn't ready to potentially ruin what we had now. Relationships are a risky business; and I was unwilling to risk hurting Landon.

So instead I ignored every fluttering butterfly in my stomach and every heart lurch that happened any time he invaded my thoughts.

"He's expecting all three of us to be there," Alice told me the night before. "I can't do it, though. I can't be around Evan..."

"Then tell Evan not to go."

She sighed heavily over the phone. "No, I can't do that. It's not fair. I'll just bow out. I'll let Landon know. He won't mind."

I wasn't exactly Evan's number one fan at the moment. The idea of being stuck with him for a 45-minute drive to the airport was super unappealing. But I was trying to remain neutral...while failing.

It'd been a week since Evan's absolute freak out. He had yet to so much as text Alice. Granted, she wasn't exactly knocking down his door either. Even though she talked about it constantly to me, Evan was in complete radio silence. We weren't really close, the two of us, so it wasn't weird that I hadn't heard from him. But I thought, maybe, he'd be desperate to make things right with Alice that he'd try to enlist my help.

Nope.

It seemed neither of them were going to address the issue, and so they weren't even addressing eachother.

But Evan hadn't even text me about meeting up to drive to the airport. This left me having to awkwardly text him and ask.

It took him long enough for me to get anxious for him to respond. His answer was a relief and maddening at the same time.

Nah. Go ahead without me. I'll catch up another time. Have fun.

I was relieved I didn't have to ride up with him while single handedly being annoyed he couldn't even go up there for his friend he hadn't seen in months. Like seriously, I might've seen Landon only a month ago, but they hadn't seen him since January. It was the first week of March. You think the Three Musketeers could let their troubles slide long enough to greet their friend at the airport.

Then I had to consider...was I mad at them because they were ditching Landon...or was I mad because I'd have to be alone with Landon?

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I told myself my nerves were because I hated driving to Nashville. The morning traffic was awful and my Jeep could barely withstand the Interstate. I told myself my hands were shaking on my steering wheel because I'd had too much coffee with nothing to eat—let alone the fact that my stomach was in so many knots I couldn't eat.