I was still riled with anger as I marched from Noah’s room and started down the corridor. What I had planned next was the worst kind of idea. But right now, I didn’t care. All I wanted was to erase Noah’s lips from my own, and no amount of scrubbing them was going to do the trick. No, I needed something stronger. Something drastic. Just like Anna and Norma kept saying, I needed a rebound. And I knew just where to find one.
Within a few moments, I found myself standing at Wes and Sawyer’s room. Without a second thought, I knocked on the door. My hands were shaking as I waited for a response, but I couldn’t tell if it was because of nerves, irritation, adrenaline, or a combination of all three. This was a terrible idea. Probably the worst I’d ever come up with. I really wasn’t sure what I was thinking. Maybe I wasn’t thinking at all. There was no way I’d be standing here if I was in the right mind. But maybe that was what I needed. I’d been dwelling on my breakup with Noah for too long, leaving myself vulnerable to falling for him all over again. It was time to stop thinking and start doing something about it.
I sucked in a breath as the door opened to reveal Wes standing on the other side. He was still dressed in his school uniform, but he’d removed his tie, and the top few buttons of his shirt were undone. His brow creased with confusion as he laid eyes on me. “Isobel? I thought we were meeting in the library.”
I pushed past him and into the room. “Is Sawyer here?”
Wes shook his head. “He’s at soccer practice.”
I swore under my breath and started pacing the room. “When do you think he’ll be back?”
“He only just left so not for at least another hour.”
“Damn,” I muttered. I doubted I’d be this riled up in an hour’s time, and there was no way I’d have the guts to go through with my crazy plan then. I’d be right back where I started.
I was still pacing around the room as Wes came up and grabbed hold of my arms, forcing me to a standstill. “What’s wrong? Why do you need to see my brother so bad?”
I slowly released my breath, a little of my annoyance dissipating as I looked up and into his calming brown eyes. “You’re going to think I’m a terrible person.”
“Try me.”
I let out another slow exhale. “I need to do something to get over Noah. It’s too much, and nothing is working. I thought I might take Sawyer up on his offer…”
My voice trailed off and Wes’ frown grew deeper.
“What offer?
“His offer to help me.”
“Help…how?
“By being…. By being my rebound.” As I stuttered out my explanation, I felt my cheeks burning with embarrassment. It sounded so silly when I spoke the words out loud.
Wes’s eyebrows shot toward the ceiling, and he let out an uncomfortable cough. “You came here to make out with my brother?”
“Yes. No. I don’t know.” I stumbled over the words. “I told you you’d think I was a terrible person.”
“Well, it’s just…”
“A terrible idea?” I finished his thought for him.
“The worst,” he agreed.
I sighed again, and my shoulders slumped. Wes was still gripping my arms, and it felt like he was stopping me from collapsing in an ashamed heap on the floor.
“I just can’t keep doing this,” I moaned. “My mind needs something else to think about. My heart needs something else to beat for. Everyone seems to think that kissing someone else will help.”
“Do you think it will help?”
“I don’t know. Probably not.”
“And do you really want to kiss Sawyer?”
“Gosh no. I’d probably pick up some kind of disease.”
Wes chuckled under his breath.
“He’s the only guy who’s offered though,” I said. “And I know he won’t think it’s something that it’s not.”
“He’s not the only guy who’s offered…”
My gaze darted up to meet Wes’s once again. Was he talking about himself? Was he offering to kiss me? His eyes were serious as he looked at me, and my mouth turned dry. I was suddenly more aware of his strong hands wrapped around my arms, and the feeling sent tingles to my stomach.
“You were drunk, and you didn’t mean it,” I whispered. He was standing so close to me, and the room seemed so much warmer.
“Was I…” he whispered.
Wes was incredibly handsome. I’d noticed, of course—you’d be stupid not to. He and his brother looked like they’d stepped out of an Abercrombie campaign. But I’d never thought beyond their good looks before. Sawyer was Sawyer, and Wes had become such a good friend in such a short time I’d never even considered him in a different way. But when he was focused on me so intensely, I didn’t know where to look and I couldn’t quite remember how to breathe.
The thought of kissing him was tempting. Especially when I was hurting. When I wanted nothing more than to forget. Wes was offering me exactly the distraction I needed and wanted. It was exactly why I’d come to this room in the first place.
I shook my head and gave him a sad smile. “Well, even if you weren’t drunk, I’d have to refuse. You’re too important to me as a friend, Wes.”
He nodded and smiled. “Yeah, your friendship is important to me too. Besides, we’re breakup buddies. Not rebound buddies.”
I laughed. “And I think breakup buddies is enough responsibility already.” I stepped out of his grasp, but my body tensed slightly when I did, as though it was resisting the decision. His arms fell to his side, and the warm smile he’d shown me just a moment ago dropped for a second, but it returned so quickly I wondered if I’d been mistaken.
“A responsibility I take very seriously.” He winked at me.
“I feel like an idiot,” I replied. “Do you think we can pretend I never came storming in here searching for a rebound?”
“I think I can agree to that.” He smiled. “So, it might not be as exciting as making out with your hot friend, but did you still want to go to the library and work on our econ homework?”
I smirked at him. “Definitely not as exciting, but econ homework sounds like a healthier coping mechanism.”
“Much healthier,” he agreed.
Wes grabbed his bag, and we started toward the door. He stopped me before we left the room though. “Isobel?”
“Yeah.”
His expression was serious again, and he looked nervous. “If you ever get desperate for another coping mechanism again, please don’t make out with Sawyer.”
He scratched the back of his neck when he saw the questioning look in my eyes. “This is going to sound weird, but he’s my twin, and we’re kind of a package deal. Like I said, you’re important to me, and Sawyer doesn’t have the best track record with girls. If anything bad happened, I wouldn’t know whose breakup buddy I was supposed to be.”
He looked genuinely worried, and I felt like even more of an idiot. My mind was clear enough now to know just how ridiculous coming here looking for Sawyer had been. There was no way I was going to kiss Sawyer, let alone start and then end a relationship with him. I gave Wes a small nod of understanding.
“Don’t worry, I won’t,” I said. “This little brain fade is well and truly in the past. As long as Sawyer doesn’t find out about this, I don’t think we’ll ever have to talk about it again.”
“Well, he certainly won’t hear it from me.” Wes winked at me again, as we left the room and headed for the library.
IT WAS late by the time I finally made it back to my dorm. I’d missed Cress and Anna at dinner but found them both laid out on Cress’s bed doing their nails when I arrived.
“Where have you been all night?” Cress asked as I ditched my bag by the door. “You totally missed girls’ night.”
I groaned and threw myself onto my bed. “I think I would have preferred girls’ night. My life is a disaster.”
They both exchanged a look before they focused back on me.
“Spill,” Anna demanded.
I hadn’t told either of them about the kiss I shared with Noah yesterday or the one we had today. I couldn’t keep it to myself any longer, and the words tumbled out as I told them everything that had happened in the last two days.
“You made out with Noah in the woods?” Cress gasped.
“And again today?” Anna’s voice was filled with a mixture of disbelief and joy.
“That’s not even the most surprising part,” I groaned. “I did something even more stupid than that.”
“What did you do?” They were both sitting on the edge of Cress’s bed desperately waiting for my answer.
“I was so mad at Noah I went straight to the twins’ room so I could take Sawyer up on his offer to be my rebound.”
“You didn’t!” they both cried.
“I did.”
“And what happened?” They were going to fall off the bed if they leaned forward any more.
“Well, thankfully, Sawyer wasn’t there.” I grimaced before I continued. “But Wes was, and he offered to kiss me instead.”
“Oh. My. God.” I couldn’t tell which of them squealed the loudest.
Cress practically leaped off the bed and looked ready to explode as she waited for me to continue. “Did you do it? Did you kiss him?”
I shook my head. “I couldn’t. He’s my friend, and I really want to keep it that way.” Anna and Cress deflated like popped balloons. “I think he felt the same way though,” I explained. ‘We both kind of laughed about it after. Still, he nearly gave me a heart attack when he offered.”
“Wow, you really know how to bring the drama to a boring old Monday night.” After the initial disappointment at hearing I hadn’t kissed Wes, Anna now had an impressed look on her face.
“I feel like I’ve made a total idiot of myself.”
Cress sat down next to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “You’re not an idiot at all. You’ve been having a hard time with the breakup. We all understand that.”
“And Noah shouldn’t keep kissing you,” Anna said. “That’s like the worst breakup etiquette ever.”
“It’s really messing with my head,” I agreed. “I swear, the logical part of my brain seems to be on holiday. I can’t believe I thought if I started kissing someone else I’d be able to regain some self-control.”
“I mean, it’s what I would do,” Anna agreed.
“But not necessarily the right advice for you, Isobel,” Cress added, shooting a look at Anna. “I can chat with Noah, tell him to back off, if you want?”
I shook my head. “No, it’s okay. I need to be stronger. I need to learn to deal with breakups myself.”
“What you need is to not see Noah every day,” Anna said. “If only we could bail on school and go on vacation.”
I sat up a little straighter. “Well, it’s not a vacation, but we’ve got that English trip to New York coming up, and my mom said I can stay with you, Cress.”
“Yes!” She started clapping her hands together with excitement. “I’ve already started making a list of everywhere we’ve got to go. Anna, you’re coming, right?”
“Obviously,” she said with a wide smile. “It’s about time we had a girls’ weekend. I’m in desperate need of some new clothes, so this couldn’t come at a better time.”
For the first time in days, I began to feel a little more hopeful, and I smiled at my two friends. I wasn’t all that into shopping, but I’d be happy to do just about anything so long as it took my mind off Noah.
“This is perfect,” Anna said. “By the time the weekend’s over, you’ll have had such a good time you won’t even remember Noah’s name.”
I hoped that meant I’d forget his lips too.
