The sound of the door unlocking echoed through the apartment as Lily let herself in. I was pulling on my tights and dance shorts when she strutted into my room.
“Tell me everything,” she said, giving me a quick hug before jumping on mybed.
“Hey! I just made that.” I flicked her foot.
“I’m trying to get you to loosen up a bit,” she said.
“By messing up my bed?”
“It’s called exposure therapy, babe.”
“I am not scared of a messy bed.” I crossed my arms, grabbing my moisturizer from the vanity.
“I’ve known you for—what, sixteen years now? You’re notfooling me.” Her lips curved up in a mocking smile. To prove my point, I jumped on the bed besideher.
“See?” I stuck my tongue out. “We can’t take too long, by the way. I need to drop Taylor at her dance class this morning.”
“Because that’s not Lauren’s job,” Lily noted sarcastically.
I rolled my eyes.
“Anyway.” She clutched my arm eagerly. “Stop keeping me waiting. Tell me how you were making love-heart eyes with Luca fucking Vasvault.”
I dragged my hands through my hair with a groan.
“Lily, I have no idea what’s happening.” My voice was hushed as if he could hear us. “After he didn’t turn up at the event—”
“I cannot believe he did that, by the way. And then to call you a liar?” Her nose wrinkled.
“I still can’t quite believe it either. But things have sort of changed between us. He was being a dick because he thought I was hiding stuff or manipulating him for something.”
“Why would he think that, though?”
“I don’t know…” I trailed off. I usually told Lilyeverything, but for some reason, telling her about Luca’s past just didn’t feel right. So, I offered a small truth. “He’s super cynical, to be honest. He doesn’t trust anyone. I think he expected me to fight back when he was being a dick, and because I didn’t, he assumed I was being tolerant for my own gain.”
“So, because you’re a super-nice, considerate human being, he was pissed and decided to punish you?”
“Well, he did overhear our conversation earlier that day.” I cringed. Opening the moisturizer, I collected some on my fingers before rubbing it into my face.
“And? That’s what best friends do—gossip.”
“Then, when he asked me whether I genuinely enjoyedworking with him, immediately after he’d overheard our call, I lied to his face and said I did.”
I attempted not to smile as Lily tried to find a way of justifying it, wanting to have my back.
She laughed. “OK, that’s not great. But still. Does Luca not understand that people sometimes tell white lies to protect feelings?”
“That’s the thing, though, he doesn’t. He’d honestly rather you insult him and be honest than protect his feelings and be fake. So we had a big blowout. He turned up at my apartment with coffee and pastries, and we actually talked about what was going on, and voilà, everything changed.”
“In what way?”
“Not nicer, exactly…” I trailed off, searching for the right word. “Just less antagonistic, I guess. Like, we are having genuine conversations longer than one or two words, and he sometimes does really considerate things, even though he passes them off as nothing.”
“And this guy supposedly hated you a few weeks ago?”
“Exactly! It’s so weird. But he makes a point of never acknowledging the nice things he does.” And while I still found Luca more infuriating than anyone I’d met, my pulse always betrayed me, spiking the second he looked my way. Worse for me, I’d started to enjoy the hours we spent together now that he’d let his guard down.
“We were practicing a lift, we stumbled, and we were this far apart.” I held my hands up, illustrating the distance. “And then”—I narrowed my eyes and pouted at Lily—“someone texts me that I’ve needed to get laid for the past year while my phone was mirrored on the TV.” I hid my face behind my hands, laughing. “And he now knows I’m a loser who can’t get laid!”
