It doesn’t come as much of a surprise to Alex Ryan when she finds herself falling head over heels for Connie O’Reilly. How could she not? There isn’t a person alive who wouldn’t be drawn to the irresistibly beautiful and charming Connie. It seems impossible she could reciprocate -- not when Alex is so awkward, so timid, so very much a girl -- until what starts as a sweet friendship blossoms into something so much more than Alex could have dreamed of. Alex knows what they have is a momentary thing, not enough to be called forever. Connie’s the most popular girl in the school, wealthy and admired. She’s going to go to Trinity, maybe marry a lawyer. She’s going to have everything Alex could never give her. She isn’t stupid, after all. Status and reputation might mean nothing to Alex, but to Connie they are everything. The only out-lesbian they know is ridiculed by everyone she meets, and it’ll be a cold day in hell before Connie lets that be her. But when rumours spark and new faces enter the picture, they’re both set to discover that, while it may be easy to walk away, it’s a lot harder to move on.

The Night Belongs to Us

Before that moment I always believed that heartbreak was a singular thing, something one person does to another. Perhaps to an onlooker, it was me that was breaking Connie’s heart at that moment, or maybe her breaking mine, but I knew that even heartbreak was something we shared. Her lip curled in and her eyes welled up and I had to look away, afraid that even then I would lose my resolve and try to embrace her, comfort her.


For the first time I thought I finally understand her shrewd caginess, so unlike my own. That obstinate pride that kept her from revealing her true self to anyone at all for fear of a rebuff.


I still refused to look at her when I finally brought myself to whisper; “Then…be with me.”


I sucked in a deep breath and closed my eyes. “Connie—if you love me—if I asked you to be with me—to really be with me—would you do it? If we just said fuck it to the rumors and our reputations and everything else—”


Chapter 54