Free Holding On by Meg Jolie

yet, she’d had a crush on Luke for years. What she’d felt was probably far beyond a crush. They’d known each other so well. Except, apparently, the one big secret they’d each kept. But she hadn’t wanted to ruin their friendship, either. She felt like she understood exactly where he was coming from. In fact, it took falling in love with Jake to get herself over Luke.
    “You know what I was thinking about before you came down here?” he asked . A small smile flickered across his lips.
    “What?” Quinn wondered.
    “That time I kissed you in middle school.”
    “Really?” she asked in amusement. “Why?”
    “While we were kissing I was so sure you were going to come to your senses and sucker punch me. And I knew that if you did, I’d totally deserve it,” he said with a grin.
    She smiled back. “All I was thinking was that I really hoped I didn’t mess up.”
    “Why would you have messed up?” he asked with a laugh. It sounded genuine, as if some of the earlier tension had faded.
    “Because it was my first kiss, dummy!” Quinn said as she smacked him across the chest.
    His smile faded and he blinked at her in surprise. “Really? I didn’t know.”
    She laughed. “You couldn’t tell?”
    He shook his head and smiled again. “Nope. I was too busy enjoying it. And you did great.”
    She laughed again. “Well, um, thanks.”
    “There was no dare, you know. I made that up. I kissed you because I wanted to,” he finally admitted.
    She bit her lip for a second before answering. Then she shook her head and smiled just a bit. “That would’ve been really, really nice to know. All these years I thought I finally had my first kiss not because you wanted to…but because someone had to dare you to.”
    “I wanted to,” he said quietly and the mood suddenly changed again.
    “Can I ask you one thing?” he wanted to know.
    She nodded.
    He hes itated, his eyes searing into her. “Would’ve you said yes? If I’d asked you out?”
    She opened her mouth to answer but he put a finger to her lips and shook his head. “I changed my mind. I don’t want to know. If you say ‘no’, it would probably break my heart,” he admitted with a terse laugh. “And if you say ‘yes’, it just might shatter it.”
    What was that supposed to mean? she wondered.
    But when she looked at him, she finally, after all of the years she’d known him, saw what she wished she’d seen all along.
    “Does Jake know I’m the reason you left ?” Quinn wondered. She needed to know because the Jake she thought she knew, never would’ve hurt his brother that way.
    Luke shook his head. “I don’t know. I told him I was over you. I’m not sure if he really believed me or if it was just that he really wanted to believe me. Either way, he never questioned it. I started dating Tabitha and I left so it never came up again.”
    “Luke,” Quinn said. She wished she had something else to say. If she’d known, would things be different? Yes, she was sure they would be. Would she want them to be different? At this point, no. She didn’t think so. She loved Jake. Completely. And she loved Luke as a friend. Now. She felt like a horrible person for not ever knowing she was hurting him.
    “I know,” he said, as if he could read her mind. And so often, he seemed to. “Come here,” he said as he pulled her into a hug. He dropped a lingering kiss on her forehead as her arms wrapped around him. “Let’s both just forget this conversation ever took place. Nothing good can come of it. Besides, everything happens for a reason. You must belong with Jake. And I know he’s going to make you happy. And really, that’s all that matters.”
     
    *~*~*
     
    “Why did you ask me out?” Quinn softly demanded of Jake. They were back at home, curled up on the couch trying to relax for a bit before heading to bed. The groom’s dinner had passed in a haze for Quinn. She couldn’t get the conversation with Luke out of her head long enough to