“Yeah, you always need a little mood booster after work. Plus, that high-pitched voice of yours is adorable.”
He looks over at me, a boyish grin lifting up his lips, making the deep dimple divot his left cheek. “Adorable, huh?”
“So!The point goes to me,” I say, ignoring the zip of energy shooting through me at the sight of that dimple. I just want to reach out and poke it every time it appears but refrain from the urge.
“Not so fast. I haven’t answered yet,” he protests, and my brow rises, a silent challenge that vanishes the moment he answers, “‘Waterfalls’ by TLC, which is ironic because the lyrics are actually kinda sad.”
“It’s the nostalgia, not the lyrics, that lifts my mood.”
The soundtrack of my childhood was steeped in Mom’s and Wren’s love for late-‘90s and early-2000s music. It takes me back to afternoons in the kitchen—us girls baking, dancing around, the music turned up loud. I must have been five or six years old, but I still remember the joy that spread across their faces, pulling me into their rhythm, making me a part of it. It’s why I love throwback songs so much. They feel like a warm hug from a lifelong friend.
It’s also why I can’t stand a quiet house. When I first moved into mine, the silence was unbearable. No singingin the kitchen. No laughter, no teasing, no voices filling the air. Just stillness. It’s why I always keep something playing in the background—music, a podcast, anything to keep the quiet from creeping in.
“Okay, what movie always makes me cry? I know?—”
“Up.” Luke’s face lights up as he interrupts me.
I groan. “I can’t help it. Why did they have to make it so sad in the beginning?"
“The fact that you’d rather watch cartoons is what’s sad.”
I lightly shove against his shoulders again, earning a laugh from him, and a smile takes over my face. “Yours isHere Comes the Boom.”
“You were crying with me when those kids started singing for Kevin James.”
We move into a fifteen-minute discussion about movies that have made us both cry until I pull up more questions on my phone, and we move through a generic list of them. Once we’ve reached the last question, we’re tied. Luke and I really do know everything about each other.
As best friends should, right? However, lately, what we have feels like something…more. A quiet shift, like something’s rearranging itself between us when we’re not looking.
I’ve always believed people can have soul mates who aren’t romantic. Raine and I have said that about each other for years, but what I have with Luke is different. It’s deeper, more layered. Raine and I have never needed to tiptoe around tension or dodge moments that feel like they might mean more if we let them.
Whatever this is with Luke, it’s complicated. It always has been. I just didn’t want to see it before and I’m not sure why I am starting to see it now.
“Is there anything I don’t know about you?” I ask, tossing my phone down into my lap and glancing at him.
I’m secretly wondering about what happened with Latasha the other night after trivia. He’s not spoken a word to me abouther, and I didn’t want to bring her up. It wasn’t any of my business, honestly, but the not knowing has been secretly eating me up inside.
Luke looks away from me quickly, a wrinkle between his brows giving away that he has a secret. I decide to tell him something, hoping it’ll encourage him to open up to me.
“I went on a date with Zane and never told you about it.”
His head snaps my way, and his chocolate eyes widen, almost predatorily. “What?” he practically growls.
“Please don’t be mad.” I tuck a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “Zane and I were tired of everyone telling us that we needed to date, so one night we decided to give it a try.”
He’s quiet for a moment, letting my confession settle in the uncomfortable silence between us.
“Everyone?”
“Yeah. Most people in town made a comment or two. Even my parents, my siblings—Ashton too—they were all encouraging,” I add, my brows knitting together.
“Why did you keep that from me?”
I stay quiet for a moment, not understanding why he would be so upset that I didn’t tell him, until it hits me that Luke values trust and honesty, and with me not telling him this, he could be taking it as a sign thatIdon’t trust him.
I do trust Luke, with everything, and now I feel like a horrible friend for keeping this from him. I’m not even sure why I was so worried about telling him. A small part of me always wondered if he might be jealous, but he’s proven to me time and time again that he isn’t.
I shrug my shoulders. “I guess because most of the guys I go on dates with are usually from out of town and are people you don’t know personally. But you know Zane. If things had ended badly between us, I didn’t want that to affect your relationship with him. Plus, if it makes you feel any better, Zane and I didn’t tell anyone else either."
