When he’s disappeared into the café and Grant is in his own world with Derek, I look up and catch my best friend with a hand slapped over her mouth.
“Don’t.”
“Oh my gosh.”
“Lil, not now.”
“Oh my gosh. Is this how you felt when I would come home talking about Grant?”
At the mention of his name, her boyfriend—Locke’s brother—cuts out of his conversation and leans over to us. “Talking about me?”
“No.”
It’s the first time Liliana and I seem to be on the same page. Grant’s eyebrows lift. He glances between us and slowly nods. “That… wasn’t suspicious at all.”
“Go back to your conversation, please.” Liliana’s request doesn’t help our case, but Grant doesn’t seem to mind. For as long as they’ve been together, he does what she asks and doesn’t question it.
Still looking confused, he nods again and turns back to Derek, looking for a phone charger in his bag.
When it seems like we’re in the clear, I kick Liliana under the table. “Now is not the time.”
“I’m sorry.” She looks around us before frowning. “I don’t want you to feel awkward, but I don’t know if I can keep my face under control. I can’t believe what I just saw.”
“You didn’t see anything.”
We have a stare down for what feels like forever. Wordless exchanges ofI know what I saw, and,There was nothing to see, are passed back and forth before Grant’s chair screeches again.
“Hey party people!” The voice calling out to our table this time is bubblier than Derek’s.
The awkward glancing around, wondering who this person is, isn’t needed. Her butter blonde hair, high cheekbones, and unmistakable green eyes are enough to identify her.
Billie’s pink ruffled blouse flows when she flies right past Grant and into my best friend’s embrace. “Liliana! I missed you so much!”
“Missed you too, Billie.”
Grant crosses his arms and scoffs. “I’m gonna remember this the next time you ask me to cover your boba.”
She turns almost instantly, equally amusing, and holds her arms out. “Grant! My big brother—I didn’t even see you there!”
“That’s what I thought.”
I laugh along with them, and it’s like any sort of awkward tension in the air or uncertainty of meeting someone new is broken. Like the mood has shifted from strangers meeting for the first time, to a group of friends seeing each other after a few days apart.
Once the banter between brother and sister stop, and Billie introduces herself to Derek, she glances at the empty chair to my right.
Turning to me, her smile tilts from welcoming to knowing.
“And youhaveto be Rosie.”
Heat reaches my ears. I’m not shy when it comes to making friends. I like that I’m extroverted, and interacting with girls in particular is one of my favorite things. Meeting Billie was what I looked forward to most tonight, besides spending time with Liliana.
But when her eyes stay locked with mine, smile still crooked while she walks around the table and holds her arms up for a hug, I can’t think of anything to say.
There’s only one reason she would know who I am.
After a quick squeeze, Billie holds me at arm’s length, hands gripping my arms and a bright expression on her face.
“I am so happy to finally meet you. You are so beautiful—even more than he says you are. And trust me, he says ita lot.”
