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She could tell hih He had n over her It didn’t seeainst Heather and Elliott, but just so that he and Liz could keep doing what they were doing And that wasn’t going to change

"Vic," Liz croaked, closing her eyes against the tears

"What’s wrong?" Victoria asked Liz opened her eyes to find Victoria kneeling in front of her "Are you okay?"

She shook her head, wishing she could let it all out Hiding things was too hard

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" Victoria brushed Liz’s hair off of her face and rubbed her shoulder

"I don’t know," she muttered

"Co her hand and guiding her to the sofa

Liz flopped down and pulled her knees up to her chest She felt ridiculous crying over this She didn’t like to cry at all, and now she was crying over a guy? Ugh! She wanted to tell herself to get it together, but it wasn’t working Maybe just today she would let herself feel the pain that she was experiencing over falling for the wrong guy

"So, tellan arm across Liz’s shoulders "What happened?"

"He kissed lanced up at her She had an a because Hayden kissed you?"

"Ugh! No!" she cried, shaking her head "I can’t even right now, Vic"

"Liz, come on Didn’t you want Hayden to kiss you? I’m confused"

"Yes, I did, but not noanted him to kiss me before I wanted him to want me then…when it would have mattered!"

Victoria scrunched up her eyebrows in confusion "You’ve lost me Why does it matter if it’s then or now? He kissed you He wants you I told you so"

"Because…I’ her head in her hands

"What?" Victoria asked, flabbergasted "Since when? Who? Why didn’t you tell me?"

Liz shook her head "I can’t talk about it, but we’ve been seeing each other all summer"

"Why can’t you talk about it?"

Liz looked up into Victoria’s eyes and sighed "I just can’t, Vic I haven’t told anyone about it I mean, I just told you, but that’s it, and I can’t even tell you who it is But he loves me, Vic, and I kissed someone else"

"Whoa, love?" Victoria asked "He told you he loves you?"

"Er her lip "Not exactly, but I overheard him tell solanced away, as if she were thinking about the situation at hand "Letsomeone all summer, who you can’t tell me about, who you overheard tell so because another guy kissed you?"

Liz stood very still while Victoria laid out her situation plainly If only she could tell her more, it wouldn’t sound so…silly

"I don’t want to break your heart, Liz, but it sounds like that other guy is using you…"

"He’s not," she answered immediately

"Why does he have to keep it a secret?"

"I can’t talk about it…"

"Well, if it is that big a secret, then you can’t reasonably say that you two are dating You have to be in a relationship for it to be wrong to kiss so you along…"

"Victoria, he’s not I swear He’s not" Liz dropped her head into her hands She didn’t even want to consider that Victoria’s words were true She wished she could just tell Victoria as going on It would be so nice to have it all out in the open

"Well, you won’t tell me the whole situation! From an outsider’s perspective, this sounds like a bad idea You shouldn’t beat yourself up over a kiss with Hayden if you can’t even tell your best friend who the other guy is I bet he doesn’t want you near other guys either, right?" Victoria asked, rolling her eyes

Liz froze Her tears dauy who does"

"I’ve been with a guy anted to keep things on the do, and letso ht it was kind of stupid, but went along with it for a little while, because I was kind of into hi with soainst that," Victoria said, shaking her head "All I’uy ants to keep secrets fro secrets from you…"

Liz wished that she could tell Victoria the whole situation She wanted to so badly "It’s not like that…"