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"Out with it," Riley demands, pointing the bottom half of her muffin at Chase. She's eaten the tops off at least four muffins, leaving the crappy bottoms for someone else.
"Can we do this in private, please?" Chase's eye pleads with mine. I'm about to agree when Luke butts in before I can answer.
"Actually, I like this scenario. I'd like to hear this too. Please go on, Chase."
Chase growls, shooting daggers at my brother, or at least his best approximation of daggers with one swollen eye.
"Fine! You and your fucking grand gestures," Chase barks at Luke, but then he takes my hands in his, causing little shots of electricity to shoot down my arms. "Lily—"
"Wait!" Avery yells, grabbing her phone and pointing it at us. "Okay, proceed."
"Are you recording this?" I screech at her.
"I'll explain after." I'm getting a serious case of foreboding.
"Lily," a lightly accented voice calls from the doorway, mimicking Chase's entrance from a few moments ago.What the fuck is happening to me right now?
"Oh, thank god! This shit is gold," Avery all but squeals in glee, panning her iPhone camera at Sam as he walks towards our group. This is too much.
"Lily," Sam repeats my name. "Can we talk?"
"We're already talking," Chase shoots at Sam and then turns back to me with a smile that looks slightly ridiculous with his one black eye. "Lily, I realized something last night. Well, I realized something a long time ago." A crowd of my family and Chase's teammates starts to form around us. Avery and Holly are now recording this from different angles, increasing my anxiety.
What the actual fuck are they doing?
"Other than Luke, you're my best friend," Chase continues, and my breath catches. Is he doing what I think he's doing? Please, god, please say he's asking me out. My eyes glance to my left at Sam. He looks so crestfallen that I feel a twinge of something in my heart. "I tried so damn hard to ignore the woman you've become, but you just wouldn't let me. I kissed you last night because I was jealous. I kissed you last night because I wanted to. And I want to keep kissing you for as long as you'll let me. I'll probably mess this up, and my life is a hot mess, but you make me want to be better for you. If you let me, I'd like to try to be the man you see in me."
I can't breathe.
I one hundred percent can't breathe. Chase Wilder, the boy I loved growing up and the man I'm still falling for today, just told me he wants to be with me. My heart is thundering in my chest. I finally take a breath and look to my brother for confirmation this is this real. Luke shrugs, smiles, and nods as if to say, "I can live with it." I look back at Chase, with his beat-up eye and scruff on his jaw. His one eye is wide open, the colour of the most intense clear, blue-green sea, so full of hope it makes my heart pound harder.
My eyes shift to Sam. He looks back and gives me a sad smile. He's such a good guy. If I gave him a chance, maybe I could fall for him. I'm about to say something when Avery butts in yet again.
"Stop!" She yells and turns to Sam, iPhone held high. "What did you want to say?" Sam takes up the spot beside Chase, then gently takes my hands from his to make his case.
"Lily, I know you have feelings for Chase," he begins. He looks so sincere and honest. "And I am sure he's a great guy, but so I am. Getting to know and work with you this past month has been amazing. You're amazing. I'm not asking you to choose between us, but I am asking you for a chance. I know we have something special, and we owe it to ourselves to explore it."
"Shit just got real," Riley whispers to my mom, who nods in agreement.The room is silent, so obviously everyone heard her.
"And that's where we come in," Avery and Holly say simultaneously. Oh, hell no! Looking at their cameras and thinking back to their questions aboutThe Bacheloretteand the team's vlog, I know the next words out of their mouth will end in my utter humiliation.
"We were thinking," Holly says hesitantly.
"That," Avery takes over. I swear those two share the same brain. "Seeing as you already owe Sam some dates, and Chase has finally come up to snuff, we could have a little fun." She leaves out the part where the fun comes at my expense.
"What do you mean you owe him dates?" Chase demands, pointing an accusing finger at Sam, all but snarling.
"Lily owes Sam a few dates for coming to the wedding with her to make you jealous," Riley blurts out.Seriously! I shoot her a look that says,I thought you were my best friend.
"You mean you're not really interested in him?"
I grimace, but that's not entirely true either anymore.
"She wasn't," Holly says. "But now that she's seen how great Samuel is outside of work, she's considering him. Both you and Sam are in the running for Lily's heart."
"And we need some new material for 'The Blue and White Life,'" Avery adds. "Plus your love triangle just went viral. Everyone wants to know who Lily will choose, and right now, the poll has Sam winning fifty-four to forty-six, with over twelve thousand votes and counting."
"What?" Luke and Chase yell at the same time. Holly hands Luke her phone, and they both scroll through the article and the accompanying online poll. I can't help but chuckle when Chase starts tapping and refreshing the page to vote for himself, trying to even the results.
