Chapter 41 CHAPTER 41
CHAPTER 41
YAEL
The moment I managed to stop hyperventilating against my dorm door, three loud knocks nearly made my soul leave my body.
“YAEL OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW!”
Maya.
And judging from the suspiciously aggressive knocking rhythm behind hers — Jordan.
Before I could even pretend not to be home, Maya yelled, “Don’t play! I know you’re inside, I literally tracked your location!”
I groaned, marched to the door, and cracked it open.
They both barreled in like I was hosting a crime scene.
Jordan sniffed the air dramatically. “Something happened.”
Maya leaned close, squinting at my face. “Your lips look swollen.”
I slapped my hand over my mouth. “NO THEY DO NOT—”
“They absolutely do,” Jordan said. “And you’re breathing like you ran a marathon.”
“Actually,” Maya added, “you look like you ran a marathon and then got hit by a car made of feelings.”
“I’m fine,” I lied. Terribly.
Both of them stared at me with dead, unimpressed eyes.
Jordan crossed her arms. “Spill.”
“There’s nothing to spill.”
“Yael,” Maya warned, “I will climb your balcony, break your window, and search this room for evidence.”
“You can’t climb,” I retorted weakly.
“Not the point,” Maya snapped.
Jordan nodded toward my bed. “Sit.”
“I’m not a child—”
“Sit,” they said in unison.
So I sat. Like a child.
Jordan perched beside me, Maya sat cross-legged on the floor, and both stared as if they were about to interrogate a war criminal.
“Okay,” Maya said slowly, “something happened with Knox.”
I looked at the ceiling. “Maybe.”
“Maybe?” Jordan repeated. “She says maybe.”
Maya gasped. “OH MY GOD YOU KISSED HIM.”
“I— I didn’t— we— it—” I sputtered, waving my arms so wildly I almost smacked Jordan. “It just— happened!”
Jordan’s grin stretched slow and wolf-like. “Tell. Every. Word.”
I threw a pillow over my face. “I hate both of you.”
Maya ripped it away. “Start. From. The. Beginning.”
So I did.
All of it.
The quiet moment after the debate, the compliment he whispered, the elevator, the button he pressed, the kiss that scrambled every neuron in my brain, the way he held me like he’d been waiting to do that forever — and my very dramatic escape.
By the time I finished, Maya’s mouth was hanging open and Jordan was smiling like she had just watched her favorite movie.
Maya slapped my knee. “YOU LIKE HIM.”
“I do not—”
“You LIKE him,” she insisted. “Like like. Capital L!”
Jordan nodded calmly. “It’s obvious.”
I threw my hands up. “I can’t like him! He’s Knox! I’m— I don’t know— me! And he’s my brother’s rival! If Aaron finds out he will literally skin me alive and then use my bones as decor!”
Jordan choked on a laugh. “He wouldn’t do that.”
“He would,” I said seriously. “He really would. You haven't seen him in protective mode. It’s terrifying.”
Maya flopped dramatically onto the bed beside me. “So you’re telling me you kissed one of the hottest guys on campus, the same guy who stares at you like you hung the damn stars, and you’re sad about it?”
“I’m not sad— I’m panicking,” I corrected. “There’s a difference.”
Jordan tucked a strand of her short hair behind her ear, watching me with that observant calm of hers. “So what exactly are you panicking about? The kiss? Or the fact that you liked it?”
I glared at her.
She didn’t even blink.
“Fine,” I whispered. “I liked it. Happy?”
Maya screamed into a pillow.
Jordan smirked. “Extremely.”
“But I can’t like him!” I cried. “If I like him, things get complicated! And if Aaron finds out, it’s over. Like— bury-me-with-my-textbooks over.”
Maya sat up, leaning forward. “Okay, real talk? You can like someone. You’re allowed to. Aaron isn’t your owner.”
I sighed, staring at my hands. “I know. But it’s not just that. Knox… scares me.”
Jordan raised an eyebrow. “In a bad way?”
“No,” I whispered. “In a too-good-to-be-true way.”
They both softened at that.
Maya nudged me gently. “Yael… you deserve to have someone look at you like that.”
Jordan hummed in agreement. “And he does look at you like that.”
“Guys…” I covered my face again. “I don’t even know what this is. What if he’s just teasing me?”
Maya snorted. “Sweetheart, if what you described is teasing, I never want to see what serious looks like.”
Jordan nudged my foot. “Whatever happens next, we’ve got you. And Aaron won’t murder you. Probably.”
“That’s not comforting,” I said.
Maya clapped loudly. “Okay, enough freaking out! You need to breathe! Hydrate! Maybe prepare for class so you don’t explode when you see him again.”
“See him again?” I squeaked.
Jordan laughed. “Yes, Yael. You’re co-leads. You literally cannot avoid the man.”
I groaned into my hands. “Kill me. Please.”
“Nope,” Maya said cheerfully. “Too busy shipping you.”
Jordan stood. “Come on. Let’s get food before you pass out.”
I dragged myself off the bed like my bones were made of dread. “Fine. But we’re not talking about Knox anymore.”
Maya and Jordan exchanged a look.
Then they burst into identical mischievous smiles.
“Oh, we’re absolutely talking about Knox,” Maya said.
“Every step of
the way,” Jordan added.
I groaned again.
Loudly.
But… deep down?
I wasn’t as terrified as before.
Because now, I wasn’t spiraling alone.