Blindsided

20

A/N: I just wanted to let you guys know that this is about the halfway point of the story. Thank you so much for sticking with it this long, your support means the world to me. Let me know what you would think about a sequel. Next update out Thursday (14).

Paige refers to Simon as 'Si' for the first time this chapter. To avoid confusion, it's pronounced as you would pronounce the beginning of his same: S, then a long 'I'.

...

I was ready to throw my phone out the window.

Moira and Ashlee had been texting and calling non-stop, even going as far as blaming me for ruining their date night with Drake and Brandon because, and I quote, 'there was no way they were doing anything after the bullshit I pulled on them'.

I turned my phone off completely on the taxi ride back to the hotel, not needing anything to distract me. It was taking everything in me to keep my cool in front of Simon.

For one, there was everything that I was still keeping from him. I broke out in a cold sweat just looking him in the eyes and pretending I didn't know that his girlfriend was currently sleeping with his best friend. For another, I had made out with a guy that he had specifically told me to stay away from. It would be one thing to tell him that I had just run into Aiden and we got to talking because I couldn't find him, but it was a whole other dimension to tell him that I was grinding against him for a very hot minute or so.

And lastly, I had to look him in the eyes and ignore the fact that I was falling for him. The only thing I could compare it to was being pushed off of a very, very tall cliff and having no control over anything my body was doing. I could only hope that I hit the water soon. I would gladly take drowning over the war that my mind and heart were currently in.

"You okay? You've been quiet ever since we left," Simon pointed out, pulling me out of the confused state that I was in. I physically shook my head, trying to rid myself of the thoughts that were torturing me, but he took that as an answer to his question. "Why? What happened?"

He was alert and worried, making my heart lurch once again. This boy was ready to slay dragons for me, and he had no idea how that even made me feel. I wasn't even exactly sure how that made me feel, but I knew that this wasn't just platonic for me anymore.

I shook my head again. "No, nothing happened. I just didn't see you all night. How did things go with Aliza?" I tried to make my voice sound suggestive, so that he thought I was teasing him, but it came out soft and hurt. He eyed me suspiciously and I wanted to kick myself for not being able to just eat my feelings.

"She has a brother that goes to school at the University of Minnesota. I was just talking to her to get some contact info," he assures me, and his tone is definitely defensive. "I'm not going to cheat on Kristina, Paige. And it sucks that you think that I would."

Oh thank the lord. He thought that my 'suggestion' had been about him and Kristina, not about me and him. So I could either go with that, and admit that I thought he was no better than Jared, or I could admit that I had feelings for him and seeing him with yet another girl made me jealous. What a corner I was in. So I decided to make a last ditch effort to save myself.

"Minnesota? That's like, three hours from Boston," I choked, catching the eye of the cab driver. He didn't exactly look threatening when we had gotten in the cab, but the look he was giving me now made me shift the slightest bit closer to Simon.

"The university is in Minneapolis actually, so it's only like a four hour flight," he argues. I feel my eyes bulge at his words, so I quickly avert my gaze. My first thought was not to appear clingy, not to make Simon feel like anything had changed. But whether or not I was getting these new, unwelcome feelings, he was still my best friend, and I could be upset if he went to a school that kept us hundreds of miles apart.