Only With You by Monica Alexander Page A

around a smirk, nodding his head in encouragement. “That’s my boy.”
    I rolled my eyes. “ Nothing’s going to happen. I just want to see her.”
    “Riiight,” he said, nodding conspiratorially. “Just kiss her again and see what happens. I’ll bet she doesn’t push you away this time.”
    I rolled my eyes. He was delusional. No way was I kissing her again.
    “Who are you guys talking about?” the brunette asked.
    “Sydney Chase,” Jake blurted out, and then he must have realized what he said, because he smacked his hand over his mouth.
    I felt my shoulders sink as Jake’s eyes met mine. He could have handled that so much better. He could have laughed and said he was just fucking with me, but instead he’d basically implicated us both.
    “I’m so sorry, dude,” he said, his hand still over his mouth, his words muffled.
    “Are you dating Sydney Chase?” the brunette asked, her eyes wide.
    “Is that who you were texting?” the blond asked eagerly.
    They were going to ask if they could meet her. I knew it.
    “She’s just a friend,” I muttered.
    “You’re actually friends with Sydney Chase? Like for real?”
    “Yup,” I said, really not wanting to get into it. “We grew up together.”
    “Can we meet her?” the blond asked, all animosity the had been aimed toward me just five minutes earlier gone in an instant.
    “Not tonight,” Jake chimed in. “Let Ryder meet up with his friend. Maybe we can introduce you to her another time.”
    Yeah, right. I knew that was Jake’s way of getting out of a tough situatio n. He’d never see either of those girls again.
    “You promise?” the brunette asked.
    “I promise,” Jake said, and both girls started talking a mile a minute.
    Jake turne d to me, rolled his eyes and made a talking motion with his hand. “Have fun, man. Wear a condom.”
    “I always do,” I joked, even though there’d be no need for a condom th at night. I already knew that. “Text me when you’re ready to head home. I’ll come get you.”
    “You can pick me up in the morning,” he offered. “I’ll text you the address. If you don’t end up getting any, you guys can always do one of your weird, platonic sleepovers if you want.”
    I grinned. I loved our weird, platonic sleepovers. And this time I wasn’t going to ruin things with Syd by kissing her. I was going to get our friendship back, and if that meant I had to hide my feelings for the rest of my life, so be it. Anything was better than what I’d been dealing with for the past few months. I just wanted my Sydney back.
    Fifteen minutes l ater, I was knocking on her hotel room door about ready to wet myself out of fear and excitement. I heard noise inside – chatter and music and laughter – and my heart sank. She wasn’t alone anymore.
    Then s he opened the door with a flourish and smiled at me, one of her wide, open smiles that had made me fall in love with her in the first place, and I momentarily pushed aside the fact that she’d basically invited me to a party. I hoped we’d get time to talk.
    “It’s so good to see you,” she said, pulling me into a hug that felt familiar and foreign at the same time as she enveloped me in her warmth. “I’ve missed you, babe, so much.”
    I loved that she was casual in a white t-shirt and jeans, her face was scrubbed clean of make-up, and she had an olive beanie over her long brown hair. God, she looked hot. No, in actuality she looked like the girl I used to go to the skate park with in middle school. I liked her this way better than the girl who’d been up on stage earlier in the night. It made her look like the Sydney I’d always known, the one only I got to see.
    I found myself hugging her back , the feeling as wonderful as I remembered it to be. “I’ve missed you, too, Syd,” I said over the beat of The Naked and Famous song pulsing in the background. Someone at the party shared my taste in music.
    As I hugged her, my eyes shifted over her shoulder to see