“It’ll come back if you make me stop at another Waffle House,” he said, and she laughed again.
“Blasphemy! Waffle House is amazing!”
“Maybe to someone with extremely low standards.”
“You’re an extremely low standard.”
Their heated debate lasted until the next gas stop. I kept my face hidden in the seat until the tears dried.
“So.” Arden looked at me like she wasn’t so much clairvoyant as being fed intel by a PI. “You’re in love with him.”
My phone clattered to the floor. I scrambled for it, giving our hotel room a quick scan even though Phoebe had gone with Dex to get dinner down the street. “God,” I said, sinking into the edge of the plush bed. “What? No. That’s so—What if Phoebe was here when you said that? What would she think?”
“I knew you wouldn’t talk to me unless she was out of earshot,” she replied. She must’ve propped her phone up because she was lounging on her couch, arms crossed, resembling a hard-assed therapist. “I know you. I knew what was up the second you got weird last night.”
I rubbed my nose. “I didn’t get weird.”
“You mentioned someone hitting on Dex and I heard your heart break in real time.”
“Bullshit.”
“Tell me you’re not in love with him,” she challenged. “I dare you. Right now.”
“I’m not in love with him,” I said easily. Her eyes narrowed. “I may have a crush.”
“Sure.”
“And he may have asked me to get a drink with him last night.”
She blinked twice, eyebrows slowly rising. “Sure…”
“And we may have made out and dry humped a little in an elevator.”
Her lips parted. In the background, a throat cleared and Noah said, “So, I’m gonna go.”
I winced. “Hey, Noah.”
“Hey, Vi. Happy humping or whatever.”
I buried my face in my palm. “It’s stupid, is the thing. And Ihatefeeling stupid.”
“I know you do,” Arden said, her tone taking a sympathetic dip. “It doesn’t have to be, though. Dex isn’t a bad guy.” She paused. “Right? I feel like I don’t know enough about him to say.”
“He’s not a bad guy. He’s actually…” I exhaled, lifting my gaze to my best friend. I’d only just gotten her rants back, and now the sympathy was making a comeback. I was hoping I’d make it at least forty-eight hours, but my reckless heart had other ideas. “It doesn’t matter because what he really is, is off-limits.”
“Nice,” Noah said. Arden shot him a look. “Sorry, sorry. I’m going.”
“He’s not technically off-limits,” Arden said, returning her gaze to me. “Did he write a love letter that would make Shakespeare proud? Yes. Is he on his way to hand deliver it to the woman he wrote it for? Also yes. But if he’s dry humping you in an elevator, things clearly aren’t as cut and dried as we thought.”
My mind drifted without permission, landing on memoriesof Dex’s hands, Dex’s tongue, his desperate groan as he pinned me against the wall.
“Oh my god,” Arden said, snapping me out of my head. “Youarein love with him, aren’t you?”
“No.” I rolled my shoulders and composed my sunburned face. “I’m not. And I’m going to will myself out of my pointless crush.”
“Really.”
“Yep. I started making a list of reasons why I shouldn’t like him.”
