It Could Be More | ✔

19. Completely Undone

Corey wasn't in the auditorium when I got there. After all the time I spent debating if I should skip watching the rehearsal to avoid an awkward situation, and he didn't even show up.

I sat in my usual seat at the back, watching Liah on stage, mouthing along to everyone else's lines. Singing was her first love, but I think she could have a future in acting if she wanted it. I tried to keep my focus on the stage, but my eyes kept flicking to the door, hoping Corey would walk in. Not that I knew what I'd do if he did.

Scaring him off was bad enough, but I guess there were worse alternatives. What if he showed up and gave me "the talk"? Told me I was a good friend and he cared about me, but not in that way. I've watched enough movies to know unrequited loved sucked.

Not that there was any love. Unrequited or otherwise.

Corey was a good friend.

I cared about him.

Just not in that way.

I repeated that over and over. Even long after rehearsals ended. If Liah hadn't put those thoughts in my head, I wouldn't be feeling like this. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized, maybe she hadn't hit a switch and turned on my feelings for Corey. My best friend only shined a light on them. Brought them out of the shadows where I couldn't ignore them anymore.

Because if I was being entirely honest with myself, maybe it started that night in the tree house when he saved me. Or maybe I caught feelings on Halloween night when he convinced the neighbors to turn on their lights for me.

Maybe I always felt something for him, thrumming just below the surface, underneath all the years of hating him. Yeah, he was nice to look at, but he was kind, too. While my brother used to act like me breathing the same air as him was a crime, Corey never seemed bothered.

But I couldn't like Corey. Not when I finally got my brother back. If I started dating his best friend (who he was currently mad at), we'd end up back at square one.

Then again, with the way Corey ran out of the house yesterday, I didn't have to worry about that. He didn't feel the same way.

• • •

"I told you it sounded like a date," Liah sang. She laid on her stomach across my bed, breaking my no homework in my room rule. The dining room table only reminded me of yesterday, so I didn't mind that night. We were in our pajamas, using this rare opening in her schedule to catch up.

"It was innocent!" I cried, covering my face with the blanket I had wrapped around me. "It wasn't a date."

"Why not?" she asked, popping some white cheddar popcorn in her mouth.

I looked away, shoving a spoonful of strawberry yogurt in my mouth. Heat prickled up the back of my neck. Of course, my best friend would voice the one question I wouldn't even let myself think about. Because I already knew the answer: He didn't want it to be a date. "What do you mean 'why not'? It's Corey."

"Exactly," she said. "He's the Corey you've been giggling with at the back of the auditorium for weeks. The Corey who dressed in Spandex because you asked him to. The Corey who would be an idiot if he ran out of here yesterday for anything other than being nervous about an amazing, gorgeous girl like you being interested in him."

Well, when she put it like that...Maybe she was right. Guys got nervous, too. But I couldn't imagine Corey being scared to make a move. He didn't hesitate with Shamika or Myisha. So, if he wanted to be with me, he would've said something. Right?

Sitting there stressing about whether a boy liked me had me missing the days where it didn't matter. Because Grayson wouldn't let anyone near me. There was something seriously wrong with that.