“We don't need to talk. But let me stay.”

I sighed. I had wanted the solitude, but now that I was out and away from the gaggle of girls and their ceaseless noise, having just one girl with me didn't seem so bad. Actually, feeling Sam hold me felt pretty good. "Fine," I finally answered.

Sam walked with me two blocks to the trail access and then the half-mile spur that connected us to the creek. Progress was slower with her holding my arm, not that I was in a hurry to go anywhere. We walked in silence, Sam's presence feeling rather reassuring, actually. And by the time we reached the creek, my mood didn't feel quite so oppressive.

It had rained on Saturday night, so the creek was reasonably full.

There were big boulders on the embankments, and Sam let go of me so I could move partway down to sit on one while Sam sat on another boulder nearby.

For a while, I thought she'd just let me stare out across the water in silence, leaving me to my own thoughts while simply being around in case I needed her. But after a while, she sat up straight, which drew my attention.

“What are you thinking right now?" she asked quietly.

I took a deep breath, exhaled, and looked up at her. "I'm just really confused."

“About Neevie screaming her ex-boyfriend's name during sex?"

“Well, obviously. But more than that."

“Like what?"

I sighed. "I've just been thinking about our entire relationship, from the time that I met her until today. I'm kind of reevaluating everything I thought I knew about my feelings for her back then and her true feelings for me. Like, we all knew she'd had a boyfriend in

Ireland, but none of us knew the details about her trying to move in with Conor rather than come to America. For all I know, even now, she'd been trying to maintain that relationship long-distance for however many months so the fact that she couldn't actually date me because of

The Rule was actually a non-starter."

Sam raised her eyebrows.

“It does make you look back at that time through a different lens."

“Belle said that I reminded Neevie of her ex, and maybe that would explain her instant attraction to me."

“Maybe." Sam cocked an eyebrow.

“Doesn't explain your instant attraction to her. I believe the phrase was: ‘The most gorgeous thing

I've ever seen’.”

I recognized the hurt tone in Sam's voice, and I took a moment to say,

“You know you're beautiful and ridiculously sexy."

“I know I used to be your favorite masturbation fantasy until Neevie showed up."

I frowned, wondering how she knew that.

“Belle told me."