Paige Harbison - Anything to Have You

Nothing should come between best friends, not even boys. ESPECIALLY not boys.

Natalie and Brooke have had each other’s backs forever. Natalie is the quiet one, college bound and happy to stay home and watch old movies. Brooke is the movie—the life of every party, the girl everyone wants to be.

Then it happens—one crazy night that Natalie can’t remember and Brooke’s boyfriend, Aiden, can’t forget. Suddenly there’s a question mark in Natalie and Brooke’s friendship that tests everything they thought they knew about each other and has both girls discovering what true friendship really means.

I woke up the next morning with an awful throbbing headache, a sense that I was in a dream, and a couple of seriously questionable flashbacks. I lay in the dark room for about five minutes, my hands clasped over my eyes and forehead, trying to make the spinning and thudding stop. When I finally sat up, I almost threw up, then almost screamed. On the opposite side of the bed, luckily as far as possible from me, was Aiden.

I left the room quietly and went upstairs to the kitchen. Everyone was still asleep.

I went to the fridge and got some water. Then I sat on a stool at the counter…and tried to piece together the night before.

Praise for Paige Harbison

“New Girl reads like Rebecca, as done by the CW. I don’t know about you, but that spells awesome to me.”

—Leila Roy, Bookshelves of Doom

“Paige Harbison takes on mean girls with her debut novel about a queen bee stuck in limbo after a horrific accident. Following in the footsteps of her mom, Beth—author of Shoe Addicts Anonymous, which is being made into a movie starring Halle Berry—the twenty-one-year-old has already inked a deal to give her book the Hollywood treatment. For fans of Gossip Girl.”

—Tommy Wesely, Teen Vogue

“Compellingly written from Bridget’s point of view, Here Lies Bridget is an ideal read for victims of this abysmal behavior [bullying], offering keen and witty insight into the emotional motivations of privileged narcissists…. What’s so engaging about Here Lies Bridget is its honest insight into Bridget’s self-perception…. [A] solid and intriguing read.”

—Susan Carpenter, Los Angeles Times

“The novel unfolds with a certain sweetness and a lack of cynicism, which I found refreshing. This may be because author Paige is only twenty years old, so her connection with a young audience is natural and easy. I appreciate the book’s message and if I had kids, I’d feel comfortable allowing girls as young as twelve to read it.”

—New York Times bestselling author Jen Lancaster on Here Lies Bridget

Anything to Have You

Paige Harbison

www.miraink.co.uk

To Emily, my best friend, and to all the others in the world who have had to really learn what friendship means and what it doesn’t.

Contents

Epigraph “It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.” —William Blake

Part I Part I NATALIE

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Part II

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Part III

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Part IV

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Part V

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Epilogue

“It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.”

—William Blake

Part I

NATALIE

CHAPTER ONE

End of January, Senior Year

I HEARD HER before I saw her. Music blasted from inside her car despite the fact that she was in a quiet neighborhood. I climbed in, and she turned down the volume.

“So fucking cold outside,” Brooke said as I buckled my seat belt.

“It’s winter, it’s supposed to be cold outside.”

She rolled her eyes and turned around in my driveway. “I’m moving to, like, California or something. I can’t stand this. Okay, so,” she said. “Justin continues to not notice me, despite my employment of slutty tank tops.”

“Who cares about Justin? He’s a junior, for one thing, and he’s related to Reed, which means he’s likely insane.”

“And I really thought this bra would do the trick, too.” She ignored me and pushed up her push-up. “My tits look totally awesome—there is no explanation for how he has not dropped to his knees in obsession yet. I mean, look at me, I am, like, an adorable fucking snow bunny.”

She raised her eyebrows at me, and I surveyed her pink cheeks, pitch-black mascara, ribbon-blond hair and absurd fluffy white coat.

Only this girl could pull that off.

I sighed as she looked back at the road.

“Well,” I said, “he is also friends with Aiden. Maybe he’s got some kind of...integrity?”

“Hah! That moron? Come on.” She shook her head, no doubt in the world. “He’s not picking up on it or something.”

I doubted that.

“All right, so he’s not aware that you’re trying to get him to want to bang you—”

“I want him to want to bang me. I would never actually do that with him. Ew.”

“Okay...so you want him to want to bang you. Maybe you shouldn’t be doing that.”

“I mean, I know that? But this isn’t about cheating on Aiden. Or breaking up with him or anything. I need to know Justin wants me, and that he would have me if he could.”

“You know that’s insanely selfish, right?”

“It is not.”

“Oh no, it is.”

“It’s an attention thing! Aiden and I have been together for what, like...a year?”

“More than that, but go on.”

“So, I mean, it has gotten a little...stale. And I don’t know...I totally don’t want to not be with him. But sometimes a girl’s got to get some attention on the side. I mean, come on. This is the last semester of high school that we will ever have. Shouldn’t I be living it up, being young and all that?”

“I still don’t understand why you want to stay with him if you need that.”

“Do you really not?”

“No, I don’t! You’re not even eighteen yet, and you’re in a relationship you clearly don’t want to be in. I’m just saying—”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“I am pret-ty stupid.”

“I’m sorry but you wouldn’t!” she said. “You’ve never really even had a boyfriend, Nat!”

“Yeah, that’s because when I know it isn’t right, I don’t stick around because he’s hot or because I wish I had those feelings.”

“Can we not argue about this?”

“We’re not arguing, we’re...discussing.” Things were tense for a split second before we both started laughing. “I’m just saying, I don’t think you should feel trapped into something that’s not right. You know your options are endless, and no one can blame you for wanting to—”

“You’re the one that we should be talking about.”

“Me? Why?”

“Because! You’re a freakin’ hottie with a body and yet you spend all your time at home nowadays.”

“A hottie with a body? What decade are you from? And hey, I’m not at home right now!”

“You know what I mean, Natalie. I don’t get why you do that. I’ll never understand it. You get asked out by guys more often than makes sense for how little you talk to people, and yet you choose to spend time all alone.”