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Joel’s birthday is two days after mine. Yet another reason we easily became so close.
As my gaze travels the room, I see Davey standing there, smiling brightly. My heart flutters.
He’s here.
Then I watch as Aaron walks over. They say a few words to each other, smiling, and exchange a bro-hug.What is happening?
But as I watch them interact, I start to feel like maybe this could all be okay. Davey obviously helped plan this with my friends. He’s joking around with Miles and Aaron.
I need to talk to Davey. If I can reassure him, maybe we can fix this. And Aaron and I will always have our friendship.
This is good. I like this.
Davey swaggers over and wraps his arms around me. “Happy birthday! Gosh, I must have been a dick lately to get you to believe I wouldn’t want to see you today.”
“I was just sitting at home reading. I’m an idiot sometimes.”
He shakes his head. “Nah. You’re sweet. And smart. And funny. And so fucking cute. Hot. All of it.” He gives me a steamy kiss. “Seriously, happy birthday. You deserve to have an amazing day. I—”
“Yeah?”
He shakes his head, and I realize what he almost said.
He almost said he loves me.
Fear grips my heart. I know I don’t love him. Not likein love. I definitelylovehim. But not like that. Oh my gosh. Okay, he didn’t actually say it.Chill out.
“I love seeing you so happy. Come on, let me show you the rest of your party. Cooper and I planned out all the food.”
I let him lead me through the party, surprised, excited, happy… and more confused than ever.
“Hey, you enjoying your surprise party?” Aaron asks, slinging his arm around my back.
“Yes! This is amazing. You did great with the food. Davey said you guys picked all that stuff together.”
Aaron looks down.
“What?”
“Well, I picked and planned it all. He helped pay for it. He had no idea what your favorite foods were.”
Oof. Here we go again.
“Well, perks of knowing me for twelve years is that you do,” I say, pushing a smile onto my face.
He chuckles. “Yeah.”
“Was Davey not great about planning this? You guys seemed to be getting along before.”
“We do. It was fine. He wanted to do something special for you. But I could tell he was… annoyed that I had more of the answers of what you like.” He sighs. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have told you.”
“No. I’m glad you did. I’d rather know. Regardless of how involved he was, this party is amazing. You planned all of this?”
He laughs. “No. Me, Jesse, Macks, Miles, and, of course, Sarah. I was in charge of the food and getting Joel out of the house while they set up.”
“Well, today is special. I was sitting alone reading before this. I’m glad you guys did this. And, uh, thanks for last night, too.”
He smiles at me, then his eyes catch mine, and I swear he’s looking right into my soul. “Last night was fun.”
I reach up and wrap my arms around his neck, squeezing him tightly.
When I drop back down to flat feet and let go of him, I turn to see Davey and Marisol staring at us, looking uncomfortable, hurt, and a little angry.
Fuck.
Aaron and I quickly step apart.
Forget what I said earlier. Maybe thisisn’tgoing to work.
What the hell am I doing?
