“I know, but damn, she’s giving you the cold shoulder now. That’s gotta suck.” He laughs and that annoys me more. He sucks at acting. Maybe I should tell him that.
“Not really, but she’s not willing to move past friend territory. She’s worried it will make things weird.”
Eric leans in even further. “I’m surprised it took her that long to kiss you. I’ve seen the two of you interact, and it’s not like normal friends.”
“In her defense, she was excited and a little tipsy.”
Eric shakes his head and moves down the bar to serve another patron. Parker lets me eat in peace. I don’t see where they are coming from. We’ve never acted like anything but friends. It’s no different than the way Paula is around her coworkers at the flower shop.
We are comfortable with each other. As we should be since we’ve been friends since seventh grade. Never mind the fact I’ve had to bite my tongue every time she’s gone on and on about how crappy her various boyfriends were. I’m no saint, I dated when we were in high school, but even then, I didn’t fill her in on any details. It made me feel like crap so I didn’t want to do it to her in case she had even a sprout of feelings for me.
“You look like you’re thinking awfully hard over there,” Parker says. Honestly, I thought he gave up on conversation with me and left.
“Not really. Just replaying some moments in my mind.”
“I swear to God if you say anything about you and my sister kissing, I’m gonna puke.”
Now that brings out a chuckle. “As much as I don’t want to see that. It’d be funny as hell. But no, just thinking about what Eric said.”
“Please.” He waves his hand in the air. “The two of you have been in love with each other since we were in high school. Y’all are just too stubborn to do anything about it.”
He’s wrong. I would have known if she felt anything toward me way back then. “If you say so.”
“Oh my God.” Parker throws his hands in the air and slams them back on the table. “You need to get your head out of your ass and go after what you want. We all know it’s Piper. Now, what are you going to do about it?”
That’s the question. She did remember to send me her location so I can see when she gets home. No, I shake my head, I can’t crash her date. It’d be hilarious, though.
“Wow, I didn’t think it would make you concentrate so hard.”
“Shut up, Parker.” There’s no way he doesn’t get off on making people uncomfortable. He’s a good sport, at least. I feel like the same comment from Pierce or Peter would include a scowl.
I pull my phone out of my pocket and glance at the lock screen picture. It’s one we took a couple of months ago at a waterpark. I unlock the phone and tap on the messages.
Beau
I don’t know if you have any plans this weekend, but do you want to hit up the fair and carnival?
It’s something the town does every year to get the kids excited about the upcoming school year. We used to go to it all the time in high school just to hang out and have some fun. Neither of us cared about the school related activities. Maybe I can recreate some of that and have it work in my favor.
This weekend…I’m going to tell her how I feel.
thirteen
. . .
piper
The messagefrom Beau is like a ghost that haunts me. Normally, I’d text him back right away, but the invitation to the carnival this weekend came out of nowhere.
It doesn’t help that he texted me while I was in the middle of a date. That’s the problem, though. The date wasn’t horrible and he wants to see me again. We had a great time bowling of all things. He didn’t get mad when I beat him in the first game, which was a win for him. We had a great time. But…he’s not Beau.
Being at the bowling alley reminded me of all the times Beau and I would drive to the next town over to play. That was our idea of Friday night fun. We went to the occasional party and hung out with people from school, but we felt most ourselves when it was just us. We didn’t have to force conversation, or try to explain one of our inside jokes.
All of that is why I’m having a hard time saying yes to another date, and haven’t answered my best friend. It’s not likeI have anything better to do, and if anything, I can also hand out business cards. Why does everything have to be so confusing?
The whole reason I went on the date was to get my mind off Beau and try to push down my feelings toward him. Instead, all I kept thinking about was that text. It’s all I’ve been able to think about today, too.
“So, what’s going on with you and Beau?” Parker is an entire jump scare. I swear I’m going to put a damn bell on him. Or, I need to not be lost in my thoughts. That’s probably the biggest factor. Even when I have music playing, he’s never scared me as much as he has the past few weeks.
