When we got back to Vik's, we followed the sleeping arrangements we were supposed to have last night. From the mega side-eye she kept giving me through the rearview mirror on the drive, I knew it was because Liah had something to say.

While Corey assured Vik his hand wasn't broken, Liah dragged me upstairs to the guestroom. I collapsed face first on the bed, my body screaming for sleep. Liah wasn't letting that happen, though.

She laid on the bed beside me, on her back as she stared at the ceiling. "This is getting kind of ridiculous, Ari."

"What is?"

She rolled over onto her side. "You're my best friend and I love you, which is why I have to be honest with you."

Slowly, I lifted my head from the pillow. "Honest about what?"

"This thing with Grayson." As soon as the words left her mouth, I let out a groan. "Did you even tell Corey he was at the party?"

"No. We agreed this was our Grayson free weekend."

"Just tell him."

"For what? It's not like we can go back to the party and confront my brother."

Her perfect brows dipped, her eyes narrowed. "That is not what I meant."

She wasn't understanding. Getting up from the bed, I grabbed my bag from the floor to find my pajamas. "Which part of Grayson Free Weekend are you having a problem with?"

"Honestly," she said, sitting up and crossing her legs. "All of it. Why are you so afraid to tell him you're with Corey?"

I paused my search for my sleep shorts. "Are you serious? He literally threatened Corey the first time he tried to ask me out."

"You and I both know that Gray is a softer than a marshmallow. He'll be mad, sure, but he'll get over it. He's your brother. He can't hate you forever because he doesn't like your boyfriend."

In a perfect world, that would be true. But in this world, Grayson stopped talking to me for years for no apparent reason. Blood or not, he could hold a grudge.

"We're going to talk to Gray the next time he comes home. Okay? Now, can we not bring him up again for the next twenty-four hours?"

Liah stared at me a moment before letting out a sigh. "Okay."

I grabbed my toothbrush and headed for the door. "Thank you."

"But if you keep dragging this out, you'll only make things worse," my best friend blurt out, all in one breath.

I turned on her. "Seriously?"

"No one likes being lied to. Just tell Gray. Then you and Corey can live happily ever after like those characters in your books." She let out a self-satisfied sigh. "Okay, I'm done now."

Rolling my eyes, I left for the bathroom. I tried to get back into that stress free zone I'd been in all night, but Liah ruined it. She thought everything was going to be all rainbows and unicorns after Corey and I told Gray everything.

That was the hope. But I knew Corey and Gray better than she did. After everything was out in the open, Grayson would shut me out again, or Corey would try to be the good guy and remove himself from the situation.

A happily ever after seemed like a fantasy.

● ● ●

We had a late start on Sunday after sleeping in all morning. We almost forgot about the pizza party and Vik's parents coming back later that evening. The four of us made sure the house was clean and that we left behind no evidence of ever being there.

There wasn't much to do about Vik's bruised hand other than come up with a really convincing lie. He decided on a gaming accident. Apparently, injuring himself while playing with his VR set up was common enough for his parents to believe it.

I wasn't ready for the weekend to end. Last night, it felt like Corey and I were finally getting into the groove of things. Now we had to go back into secret mode.

Hopefully, not for much longer. As long as everything didn't blow up in our faces once we told Grayson the truth.

● ● ●

Since Corey and I couldn't be out in public yet, the only way to keep our relationship a secret was to never be near each other. That was difficult with us having so many of the same classes. Luckily, Liah also had those classes and would check me every time she caught me, as she put it, staring heart-shaped holes into the back of his head.

After school was the worse. He was only a few blocks away, and neither of us would be doing anything. What was stopping us from meeting up at one of our houses and continuing what we started in that hideous bathroom?

I had my calendar marked for Saturday, the first night of the winter musical. Gray was coming. My whole family would be there to support Liah. She was practically family. Corey and I planned to tell him before the show. That way, he'd have about two hours to collect his thoughts...or plot out Corey's murder.

As the day got closer, it felt like every single one of my internal organs had knotted themselves. My only distraction was playing chauffeur to Liah's little sisters. Reya had basketball and Kari had dance. Zion normally went to work with Mrs. Scott since her office had a daycare.

Now, I sat in the drive through line for Tacobell, Reya and Kari trying to decide what they wanted. It was an end of week reward for them that Mr. Scott gave me extra money for. He also warned me they would try to order the most expensive thing on the menu.

They reminded me a lot of me and Gray. Reya was the oldest and whatever she wanted, Kari wanted. Reya kept changing her order, getting more and more annoyed when Kari changed her, too.

"You don't even like cheese!" Reya huffed, after she said she wanted a chicken quesadilla and Kari followed.

"Yes, I do. Just not a lot."

Reya folded her arms and rolled her eyes, the attitude in full force. "You are so annoying!"

"No, you're annoying!"

I've watched the two of them go at it in the rearview mirror all week. That's how it started with me and Grayson. All I wanted was to be just like him. I wanted to play his games and hang out with his friends.

Reya was the same age Gray was when he started pulling away from me. I always thought it was something I did. But maybe it was just a natural part of growing up. In elementary school, everyone is your friend, but middle school? That's when you started figuring yourself out. That'd be hard to do with a younger sibling acting like your shadow.

Grayson didn't hate me when we were younger, he just wanted his own life. And now I was with his best friend, forcing myself into this life he tried so hard to build separate from me.

A car honked, bringing me out of my head. I moved forward, rattling off the order. But I couldn't help the questions burning in my mind like a neon sign: Did I want to take my brother's best friend from him?

● ● ●

Liah was a ball of nerves that Saturday. She put herself on vocal rest for everyone but me. She admitted she only did it because she was sick of people asking her if she was nervous.

"Do you see this?" she said, pointing to the pit stain on her sweater. "It's forty degrees outside and I'm sweating like a pig. Of course I'm nervous!"

I didn't know how to handle this situation. Usually it was me who was spiraling out of control. So, while Liah acted unlike herself, I acted like Liah.

"You've been practicing this thing for months," I told her as she paced in front of me.

She was due at school to start prepping for the show in an hour and her hair was still done in her neat flat-twists. She spent the night at my house because she needed a stress-free environment and her siblings were anything but.

Hands on her shoulders, I guided her to my desk chair and gently pushed her down into it. I grabbed her hair oil, rubbing it on my fingers before getting started on her hair.

"You sing the songs in your sleep," I told her as I unraveled the first braid. "Literally. And you do the dance routines. My legs are going to be bruised because of you kicking me last night."

"I said I was sorry about that."

"You sang karaoke in front of a bunch of strangers last weekend," I reminded her. "This will be nothing."

"I don't know...We've worked our asses off for months. What if we get on that stage and--"

"And show people how three months of dedication could result in the most amazing winter musical West Valley has ever seen?"

"I was going to say bomb."

"I like mine better."

"And it's not just the musical," she said, organizing the pens on my desk by color. "Vik will be there. I told my parents about him and my dad's been trying to get me to invite him over. I think it'd be safer to let them meet in a place with lots of witnesses."

"I don't know...the auditorium will be pretty dark."

For the first time that day, she laughed. I finished taking out her braids, her curls moisturized and glistening. She pulled my make-up mirror closer, fluffing out her hair to her liking.

My phone pinged with a message. My own set of nerves swooped around in my belly as I read Gray's message. He was meeting us at the school. I clicked over to my messages with Corey to let him know. This was good. We could meet Gray in the parking lot and tell him. Preferably, once the car is in park and he's not in it.

● ● ●

Time seemed to move at hyper-speed, the countdown to the Grayson Show Down right in my heels, and I wasn't prepared. My mom and I dropped Liah off at the school so she could get into costume with the rest of the cast. The Scotts were there as well, already claiming seats in the front row. While my mom and Mrs. Scott talked about some tv show, I slipped out of the auditorium to meet Corey outside.

The parking lot slowly filled up with people. Since we were telling Grayson everything, we didn't care who caught us talking. Corey was by the Cordell & Cordell Landscaping truck alone. I must've missed his parents going into the building.

Corey switched out his jogger set for a nice button down and jeans. Everyone was slightly more dressed up, like this was a Broadway production and not a student play. I wore a dress, my tights doing very little to keep me warm.

When he spotted me, Corey smiled. He'd seemed lighter the closer this day got. I wanted to be with him, floating in whatever good feelings he had. But that question from yesterday was still at the back of my skull, weighing me down.

"You look nice," he said once I got to him. "And cold."

"Hypothermia is worth it for fashion," I joked, pulling my coat tighter around me.

He stepped forward, pulling into a hug, into his warmth. We were at the far end of the school's parking lot, blocked by his truck, so I leaned into it, wrapping myself around him.

I hadn't been able to touch him since last weekend. Now, I took note of all my favorite things about being that close to him. The hardness of his body, the way he always smelled slightly of sawdust, the freckle near his ear, his calloused fingers against my skin.

The way our bodies aligned so perfectly that I could feel his steady heart beat against my chest. My own heart was on pause, waiting for my next move. Did I really want to risk this? To lose him?

"When Gray gets here--"

"I don't think we should do this." The words came out quick. My face still buried in his shoulder because I couldn't look at him as I tried to back out at the last moment.

His arms went limp around me as he pulled back a bit. I glanced at him, a mix of confusion and disappointment clouding his features. "We can't hide this forever. He's going to find out, eventually."

I stepped back, shaking my head. "No."

He grasped my hands in his, pulling me back to him. "I know you're scared, but--"

"I meant us."

He stopped mid-sentence, his eyes searching my face. "What?"

A hollowness filled my chest, my eyes stinging. How did I explain it to him? How did I tell him I choose my brother's happiness over my own? Gray needed his friend more than I needed a boyfriend.

I couldn't figure how to put all of that into words. I didn't think I could without completely breaking down. "I'm sorry."

"Harlow."

He reached for me again, but I was already out of his reach. Physically. Mentally. I had made up my mind.

● ● ●

I found my mom in the auditorium, now chatting with Corey's mom. Hudson had come in at some point and was talking to Mr. Scott. I slipped into one of the seats at the end, hoping none of them would try to talk to me before the show started. All I wanted was to go home, bury myself under my covers and cry myself to sleep. But I had to be here for Liah. So, I sucked it up.

The auditorium filled with people and I found myself constantly checking the door. Did Corey leave? Was he still in the parking lot?

I saw him come in just as Mrs. Darcy and Reese Danbury stepped on stage. Only he wasn't alone. Grayson was beside him, the two of them looking around. Mom waved them over. I glanced at the two empty seats next to me, my breath stuck in my lungs until my brother claimed the seat directly to my right. Corey sat next to him at the very end.

Even with the Gray between us, I was still entirely too close to Corey. The lights dimmed and Reese introduced the musical, #NoFilter. Everyone clapped, excited for it to start. Once that curtain parted, my focus was only on the stage and Liah and nothing else mattered.