I watch him go for a second, then grab my bag and head out.
Cooking is the last thing I want to do after a long few days, so I swing by my favorite pizza joint on the way home. The sign glows warm against the darkening sky, the windows fogged slightly from the heat inside. It’s not fancy, or even trendy. Just a little hole-in-the-wall brick oven takeout pizza parlor that has really damn good pizza.
I push the door open, and the smell hits me immediately—smoke, melted cheese, garlic. It wraps around me like a blanket.
“Hey, Korie!” Drew calls from behind the counter. We know each other by name thanks to my frequent visits. “Your usual?”
Usualas insurprise me.Because I really will eat pretty much anything.
“You know it.”
He points to me. “You got it. I’ll have it out soon.”
“No rush.”
After paying, I step to the side, leaning against the wall while I wait. Someone else is here, scrolling on their phone, and the noise coming from it grates on my nerves.Use some headphones!
Pulling my phone out, I hover over the screen, and because my brain apparently hates me, I think about Holden again.
About the way he’d leaned against me on the hood of his car, fading sunlight catching in his golden hair. How he’d looked at me when I explained why I stopped dating. The deep ache in his eyes as he finally understood. The way his arm felt around me…
Why had that felt so different from all the other times he’d held me?
I close my eyes and exhale slowly.
Holden has always tried to understand me, even when others don’t. He always sees me. Which is exactly why it’s dangerous to think about him so much.
We both know thefakein the fake date is as real as it’ll ever be for us. There isn’t a future there. There can’t be. We’re too… intertwined. There’s too much history. Too many shared moments and too many versions of each other layered over who we are now.
I mean, we’re basically family.
Ew, no! I donotthink of Holden as family. But we may as well be. We grew up together.
So why does it feel like something… changed?
I swipe to unlock my phone, opening a game to numb my mind. I’m only vaguely aware of my surroundings when a voice cuts through the fog and makes me look up.
“Nah, man, I’m telling you, pineapple belongs on pizza.”
I grin and step away from the wall.
“You’re just wrong,” Drew says.
Holden’s shit-eating grin tells me he’s amused, like he’s having this argument for the hundredth time. Drew is dishing it right back, too.
“Oh, pineappledefinitelybelongs on pizza,” I cut in.
Holden whips his head around, and a huge grin spreads over his face. Just for a second, time freezes. Is that relief in his eyes?
He reaches for me, pulling me in for a quick side hug.
“See? At least this one has sense,” he says to Drew.
Drew cackles.
Holden finishes paying, then we step to the side to wait for our orders. I’m surprised by how casual it is, like we didn’t just spend last weekend pretending to be something we aren’t.
“Hey.” He’s still grinning.
