Read Online Point Pleasant by Jen Archer Wood - Free Book Online

fountain. It was perfect.”
    Lily gazed up at Nicholas, and her eyes glazed with the dreamy quality of someone who had just won the lottery. Ben supposed she had.
    “You’ve been dating for six months,” Ben said, and he was aware of his awkward tone. The details of the proposal were infuriating. The Marquee was his place with Nicholas, not hers . Nicholas had been taking her there more often, though, while Ben sat home alone and brooding.
    “And?” Nicholas asked, turning from Lily to Ben. His tone was placid, but there was almost a hint of daring to it as if he was waiting for Ben to say something negative.
    “Nothing,” Ben said. “I just wasn’t expecting this.”
    Lily shifted inelegantly, but Nicholas reached for her hand and held it in his own. The gentleness of the gesture shattered Ben’s heart.
    “It’s good,” Ben said. “Good for you.”
    Lily gave him a sympathetic nod as if she had anticipated his less-than-excited reaction. Perhaps she had expected him to worry he would lose his best friend. Ben wanted to ball up her sympathy like an old rag and shove it between her lips to stifle any future squeals.
    “We should celebrate,” Ben said, but his cheerful tone was forced.
    “We’ve already arranged it,” Nicholas replied. “Tonight at The Point.”
    Ben put on a smile, but the expression was without mirth. “I’ll come up with a toast.”
    “Keep it clean, Wiseass,” Nicholas said, grinning.
    Lily giggled and poked Nicholas’ arm with a girlish affection that gnawed at Ben’s insides like a dog chewing the bars of its kennel.
    “I have to get back to work,” Ben said, taking in a controlled breath. “I’ll see you later.”
    “We have some other people to tell,” Nicholas said. “See you tonight, Ben.”
    Lily waved as Ben spun on his heel and walked away, keeping his pace neutral until he rounded a corner. He spent the rest of the day in a slump with his thoughts wandering to Lily’s ridiculous giggles, the way the Nolan ring sat too loose on her bony finger, and Nicholas’ passive happiness.
    Ben realized in his senior year of high school that he was in love with his best friend. He never told Nicholas, of course. The situation was his fault and his alone. Ben could be mad at Nicholas all he wanted, but Ben was acting like an asshole, and he knew it. There had been so many opportunities when he could have told Nicholas. So many chances when Nicholas was never dating, never interested in anyone. So many times when Ben felt the moment had been right, but he had still kept quiet.
    Ben simply did not know how Nicholas would react. They grew up together. They had been born on the same day in the same hospital; their mothers had shared a room at County General after their deliveries. For every moment of Ben’s young life, Nicholas had played a pivotal role. They were brothers without the blood relation, each of them an accepted member of the other’s family. They shared a horrific experience together during their youth, which only cemented their established bond. For Ben to tell Nicholas that he was unwaveringly in love with him? No, that would not do.
    Not to mention the fact that Ben, at the uncomfortable age of seventeen, seemed to be the only boy in their high school who liked other boys . So he played baseball, went on disinterested dates with pretty girls, and kept up all the appearances that were expected of him.
    Ben burned with jealousy when Nicholas went on his first date with Julie Sanders. Their senior year fling lasted for less than a week, but it was through the overwhelming, all-consuming jealousy Ben felt when he learned of their first date that he realized he loved his best friend far beyond their platonic brotherhood.
    He had been secretly delighted when Julie started ignoring Nicholas’ phone calls. Ben offered his silent support to his best friend the afternoon that he and Nicholas saw her in the school hallway with her arms draped around the solid form of Josh