NINETEEN DEX I raised my arm to knock on the door like I had last night, ready to make the joke again—tell her I didn’t love her. But I couldn’t do it. After what she’d told me tonight, I couldn’t do it. Lowering my hand, I stepped off her porch. She didn’t need to hear those words tonight, not even as a joke. She’d trusted me with something fragile, and I didn’t want to trample on it. In fact, it was the opposite. I felt even more protective of her than I had before.
