He Turned Me Down, So I Dated His Best Friend Instead Chapter 04

He Turned Me Down, So I Dated His Best Friend Instead Chapter 04

I’d known Julian far longer than he realized.

Our high schools had been only a block apart, and I passed his school every afternoon on my way home.

During freshman year, a group of guys cornered me near a bus stop. I was terrified and had no idea what to do. Julian was the one who stepped in.

It was such a cliché.

Before that day, I’d hated every knight-in-shining-armor scene I’d ever read.

And yet that was exactly how I fell for him.

For all four years of high school, I found countless excuses to cross his path.

I asked around about him.

And learned he really was every bit as remarkable as he seemed.

Luckily, I was an excellent student. I worked hard enough to get into the same university and the same honors cohort.

For the first two years, I never dared approach him.

I stayed on the sidelines and watched him move from one relationship to the next.

Then, a month ago,

a stray basketball hit me while he was playing.

We followed each other on Instagram and swapped numbers.

To apologize, he brought me something to eat a few times.

I worked up the nerve to ask him for help with my coursework.

Sometimes our fingers brushed, and the air between us seemed to shift.

He would just look at me,

then laugh under his breath.

He’d say my name in that lazy voice.

“Claire Bennett.”

“Quit staring at me and look at the problem.”

During that time, he didn’t date anyone.

People teased him about it too.

They asked if he was into me.

He never said yes, but he never said no either.

He’d just kick the leg of their chair and click his tongue. “Got nothing better to do?”

Looking back,

I’d let myself imagine far too much.

He hadn’t stayed single because of me. He simply hadn’t met a girl he wanted yet.

Whatever the reason,

we were strangers now, and there was no going back.