I Love You More Than I'm Afraid (Our Forevers #2), Rebel Hart [best adventure books to read .txt] 📗

I chuckled a little bit and it felt like the first time I’d genuinely smiled in forever. “Right? Can you even believe that it’s me?”

The video ended and he pressed the button to play the video again. “One more time.” He watched with a massive smile on his face and started outright laughing when he got to the punch. “This is incredible.”

“Isn’t it?” I said, then a thought occurred to me. “Oh! I just realized something.” I dragged the phone out of his hand and quickly forwarded the video to Ceradi. “We’ve both got footage we don’t want people to see. Keep yours off social media and I’ll do the same,” I said out loud as I typed.

Almost immediately I got a response that said, “Who sent you this?”

But I just said, “I’ve extended my terms. The rest is up to you. Consider yourself blocked.” Then I blocked her number and deleted her contact from my phone.

“What was that?” Tristan asked.

“Ceradi recorded Aria getting hurt,” I replied. “This is me telling her to keep that footage to herself if she doesn’t want me socking her blasted all over the internet.”

Tristan shook his head. “Honestly, if you tell Aria that, she’s gonna hope that Ceradi shares her footage so you can share yours.”

I snickered at that. “Well, if she’s fine with it, then we can always jump the gun. I’ll ask her when I show her the video.”

“She’s gonna love it,” he said.

“That is, if she ever wants to talk to me again. I wouldn’t blame her if she didn’t.”

Tristan rested his head in his hands. “She’s not mad at you.” He seemed almost annoyed with the information. “She’s not mad at Arden. She’s not even really mad at Ceradi. She says we don’t need more anger right now.”

“Tristan,” I said simply. “What is that girl made of?”

He just rolled his eyes. “I don’t know.”

“It’s really hard for me,” I admitted.

He reached a hand out and poked my cheek. “I know. That’s okay.”

“I still want to talk to her though. Whether or not she’s angry, I still owe her an apology,” I said.

He nodded in agreement. “Yes, you do.”

“I’ve been thinking about what you said. That the only reason you can’t love me as much as her is because I won’t let you. Is that true?”

“Yeah, Hannah,” he replied. “You mean the world to me.”

“As much as Aria?” I asked.

He tilted his head, like he was thinking it over, which I didn’t like, but then he said, “You know that toy we used to get when we were babies? With all the different shaped holes and you had to fit the right shape in the right hole but they all dropped into the same bucket?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s that. My love for Aria is different from my love for you, but it isn’t more or less. The circle isn’t more important than the square, but the square doesn’t fit in the circle hole. It’s all going to the same bucket, all the love that is important to me and makes me who I am, but the holes are different. You’re the triangle, Aria’s the circle, Taylor’s the square, my dad’s the diamond. Different, but equally important.”

“That makes sense,” I said.

“I know that there are all these preconceived notions that boys and girls can’t be friends or have platonic, intimate relationships, but that’s such bullshit. If I wanna snuggle with my best friend and my girlfriend is chill with it, why can’t I? Aria and I are totally secure in our relationship. Even if you weren’t gay or even if Aria also liked women, it wouldn’t make a difference. We know that we love one another and would never cheat on each other, and we know that we have important, intimate relationships with our best friends. There’s no reason to worry, and you don’t have to either.”

“That is going to take some getting used to, but I promise to try.”

He smiled at me. “That’s all I can ask.” Then he tapped my hand gently. “I heard your conversation with Arden went pretty well?”

“She wants to get back together,” I said.

He raised his eyebrows. “And? What do you want?”

I could mull over it for 24 hours or 24 years and it wouldn’t make a difference. “I want to get back together with her too.”

“Then what’s the issue?” Tristan asked.

“Is it enough just because I want it?”

“It should be.”

I thought of what happened between us last time and knew I never wanted to put Arden through that pain again. “I need to be sure this time. Confident, you know? I feel like because I can’t just say, ‘Yes. I’m doing it,’ it means that I might not be ready. I should be sure of it.”

Tristan shrugged. “I don’t know. Sometimes life just isn’t that certain. Sometimes it’s not about being sure, it’s about taking a risk and praying to god that it pays off.”

“Maybe. I just don’t function that way,” I replied.

He laughed. “Maybe that’s the problem.” That was worth considering. “Anyway, I’m not here to push you one way or another, I just wanted to check on you.” He stood up off of the ground. “I gotta get back to Aria, but I’ll call you in the morning, okay?”

“Actually,” I said. “Do you think Aria would be willing to talk to me now?”

“I’m sure she would,” he said, stretching out a hand. “Come on.”

Though my heart was already pounding from the idea of it, I took Tristan’s hand and stood to my feet. He didn’t let go right away, but rather pulled me into a hug, which I was happy for. It confirmed that he was definitely my “Triangle.” No matter what happened, I never wanted anything to come between us again.

When he finally released me, I gave him a warm smile and said, “I love you, Tris.”

He smiled back. “I love you too.” He wrapped his arm around my back and pulled me towards the door into the trauma