"Goodnight?!"

I nod my head and continue to stuff my face with hot Cheetos staring at the roof of my bedroom. "Yep."

Ryan shakes her head. "After all the drama, all the romantic sexy lake diving, and you're both in his truck alone and he stops you and all he says is 'Goodnight' ?!"

Trip chuckles and keeps tossing his football in the air from his place on my bean bag chair. "Women."

Ryan whips her head around raises an eyebrow at her boyfriend. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Trip puts down his football and sits up. "It means you girls think too much. Way too much. So what if all he said was Goodnight? Maybe he's building the suspense, spicing up the game,"

Ryan interrupts him, "Your point is?"

Trip smiles and gets up to sit next to his girlfriend on my bed and I continue to eat my hot Cheetos sucking the red dust off my fingers momentarily entertained by this back and forth between my two friends.

Ah, young love.

"My point beautiful girlfriend of mine is maybe the best way to help our poor Ash is to advise her to not sweat it and play along with the game Bain's playing." Trip looks at me. "And if you can't beat him, join him." He winks at me to make his point and kisses his girlfriend on the cheek turning to go down my stairs. "I'm gonna' go raid your fridge."

I eat my Cheeto shrugging. Suddenly my Cheetos get taken away from me and I pout.

"I swear one day your gonna die from over dose on these."

I sit up and sigh. "You think Trip's right?"

Ryan takes a minute to think. Then she reaches in and takes a Cheeto. "About the woman thing, no. About playing Bain at his own game? Yes." She takes another Cheeto and offers the bag to me.

"It's an addiction." I smile.

Ryan smiles back taking another bite and I laugh.

————————————————————-

I turn my phone over and over in my hand. Belly sighs and puts her book down. "If you're waiting for some kind of sign from the universe, you're not going to get one."

I sigh and toss my phone onto the table. "You think she's thinking about me?"

Belly giggles softly and takes her glasses off cleaning them with the edge of her shirt.

"I think she's thinking about if you're thinking about her."

I squint my eyes at her. "And what do you know?"

The door bell rings and Belly gets up putting her glasses back on and stands in front of the door for a second fixing her hair. She opens it and Ashley's little brother stands on the other side smiling like an idiot.

"Hey, I'll be ready in just a second." Belly kisses him on the cheek and walks to her room and Sam blushes.

For fucks sake.

Sam clears his throat. "Uh, h-hey Bain."

I just grunt at him.

I'm not happy my little sister has a boyfriend, but I'm trying to be good. Give Belly a little more space, and I'm hoping I'll get some good guy points with Ashley for letting her brother date my sister.

"Alright ready now." Belly walks out and smiles looking so much like our mother. Beautiful, delicate, yet so strong hearted and so wise.

When did my little Belly grow up?

"I know you have a hard time believing I'm a big girl Big Brother," she smiles and I chuckle. "But take my advice when I tell you she's thinking about you just as much as your thinking about her, but if you want something to happen, you'll have to grow a pair and do it yourself."

My jaw drops and she smiles turning and taking Sam's hand walking out the door closing it behind her.

Well..... okay.

—————————————————-

A month. A month has passed since I've heard from Bain White. 30 days of pure nothing. I was starting to think maybe I'd done something wrong. If I had scared him in some way or said something wrong to change his mind about me. Maybe it was when Ben showed up and made things difficult? I found myself laying in bed for freaking hours just staring at my ceiling wondering why in the world the males of the universe call females confusing and complicated when the males are the ones that never know what they want and their favorite pass times seem to be playing dumb mind games with girls that have feelings for them.

On other hand I'm hurt. I wish anger was the only emotion I felt for Bain right now, but unfortunately I'm a sap. A stupid girl with a heart that feels way too much for a guy that doesn't even deserve it. I'd checked my phone over and over countless times these passed 30 days wondering maybe he just doesn't know what to say. Does he try and text me or has he just been so busy lately he's forgotten?

My brain and my heart have never been more at war yet the one thing they share in common right now is pain. When you know you've been hurt, and when you feel that you've been hurt, it's the absolute worst.

I've made the choice over and over that I was never going to speak to him again. Then I laughed at myself repeatedly and knew that I was never going to keep that promise to myself.