LEVI
Fuck, she looks amazing up there. So free and happy. This is something she’s wanted for so long, and now she has it. Nobody needs to tell me that she’s gotten the part, Iknowshe has.
That woman is a bombshell, and I can’t wait to tell her exactly that once she gets off the stage. I gave her space to rehearse and get through this while all of my annoying, but well-intentioned, friends convinced me to ask her out properly. I’m not sure why the fuck I needed them to tell me to do it. I knew in the back of my head since the first time we kissed that I would ask Stephanie Winters out one day. That day is today.
I jog lightly, holding a small bouquet of fresh lavender in my hand. It took four different stores to find a bouquet, but I foundone. If I’m doing this, I have to do it right, and that starts with her favorite flowers. Turning, I reach the corner of the lobby.
“Would you like to go on a date with me?” My feet stop moving so quickly that I almost trip over my sneakers. Leaning over, I see what I’d been fearing since they started working together. Brad is standing in front of Stevie, holding her hand, waiting for her response.
I clench my fists, wanting to bash the fucker’s face in. He beat me to the punch. Of course he did. He’s had more time alone with her than I have, and welivetogether. I’m surprised he didn’t ask sooner with his reputation. Honestly, I thought he’d tried to hump and dump, but by the look he’s giving her, he likes Stevie. Genuinely likes Stevie.
She won’t say yes. She had me in her mouth a few days ago?—
“Can I think about it?” Her voice is small, but the response still hits me like a gunshot.
Those five words drown out all the other noise in the room, and I know I’ve lost my chance. How bad would it look if I went up and handed her these flowers in front of him? I know it’d end badly, possibly in a fight, and after what happened to Stevie last week, there’s no fucking way I’m making that mistake again.
This is what I get for waiting. I deserve this. My friends were right.
If he is what she wants, I won’t stop her. She deserves to be happy. Stevie deserves everything.
But if the asshole hurts her, I’ll kill him.
STEVIE
“And he asked you out? Just like that?”
“Yeah, he wants to take me to the movies.” I reach the end of campus, approaching King’s Wolf to walk down the rest of the way home. After Brad asked me out, I told him I’d think about it and immediately dialed Jenny’s number for help.
“And you didn’t say yes because?”
My best friend doesn’t know the details of what happened between Levi and me last week. She knows about our first kiss, but that’s about it. We haven’t had much time to talk, with both of us being so busy. In her head, Levi and I made one stupid, hormonal mistake. She’s oblivious to the way we’ve been flirting, what he’s said to me, and what we did. So, I tell her everything.
“Hold the motherfucking phone, S. Levi did all of that and hasn’t asked you out yet?”
I shrug, now reaching the door of my building. “We’ve been busy. It’s not like I’ve said much either.”
Jenny throws what sounds like a utensil in her sink. “Bull. I callbull.Hecalled Brad the fuck boy. Maybe he was projecting.” Jenny can get a little overprotective when it comes to me.
“Jenn—”
“Do you like him?”
Pausing and closing my eyes, I admit the truth. “Yeah, I do.”
Silence follows on the line, followed by a long exhale. “Oh, S, I don’t want you to get hurt again?—”
“I know, Jenn?—”
“Which is exactly why you’re going to march your ass up to your apartment, find Levi, and tell him how you feel,” she says as if she’s a coach hyping up their player.
“What?” I ask, confused.Team Brad one second and Team Levi the next?
She hums. “You heard me. See how he reacts. The worst he can say is no, and then you can move on and stop with the back-and-forth. Go and be the bad bitch I know you are.”
Snorting, I nod. “You’re the best, Jenn.”
“Best friend, best hype man, just best person all around, I know.”
