Riley gasps and looks at me with excitement. I shake my head at her.
“Yeah, that was my reaction when he told me that. But get this.” Addie laughs sarcastically and holds out her hands for the dramatics. “Ellie, what did you ask my brother?” Addie looks at me with a smile.
I roll my eyes. “I asked him why he asked me out.”
“Correct. You asked him why he asked you out,” she repeats this like she’s a talk show host. “And what did he say in return?” She places her arms on the table and clasps her hands together.
“Because I’m his friend,” I mutter.
Both Hailey and Riley gasp, their mouths open, staring at me. Hailey starts to laugh, and Riley has her hand on her mouth.
“What did you say?” Riley asks.
I look at them, tired of this conversation already. “I repeated what he said to me aloud, making sure I heard correctly. I told him I should go home. He was quiet for a moment, and then he said I could stay the night.”
Riley grabs my arm. “Please, tell me what you said,” she begs.
I let out a snort. “I asked, ‘like a sleepover’. Which confused him, and he questioned that, so I said, yeah, since we’re friends.”
Hailey starts to laugh again. “Oh, shit.”
I should laugh with Hailey, but that would just look pathetic, considering my life is already one big joke. First Charlie and now Rowan.
I wave a hand in annoyance. “Why the hell did he ask me out? It seemed like a date, which I never confirmed because of everything he did for me. I’m just…”
Addie pulls her hands into her lap and looks around the room, avoiding my eyes. I narrow mine at her and angle my head.
“Addie,” I say to her.
She looks up at me with an innocent face. “Hm?”
“What did you do?” I ask.
“Well,” she drags the word out. She starts to fidget with her hands and scrunches her face. “I kind of, may have, pushed him to ask you on a date.”
“Addie!” Riley shouts.
“I was just trying to get him to stop letting his fear get the best of him!” she replies.
My expression drops and is now completely neutral. I feel confused inside, but I make sure not to show it.
“Why would you do that?” I ask.
She opens her mouth, looking nervous. She knows she overstepped with all of this. I would agree with that. But this is no surprise when it comes to Addie. She asserts herself in everyone’s business.
“I just can't see my brother like this anymore. Ellie, I don’t think you realize how much he cares about you. He won’t let himself have you again because he’s scared that you’re going to leave him. I mean, technically, you will when you go back to the city. I don’t know. I was just trying to nudge him a little.”
“You can’t push your brother to do anything,” I say. “He’s a grown man who can make his own decisions. Plus, we aren’t getting back together. I don’t know how many times I need to tell you guys that.”
And myself.
“But you’re going back to Charlie, and we don’t want you to do that. I thought maybe if I just pushed you two together, you’d see that you two are made for each other. I read too many romance books. This is all my fault.”
Hailey, Riley, and I hold back a laugh because no one can ever be angry with Addie. Not when she does things with good intentions.
“No way in hell are we allowing Ellie to go back to that pud,” Hailey chimes in.
“Yeah, if Ellie decides to give him another chance, I’m moving to New York with her until she comes to her senses,” Riley adds.
