Page 41 of 10 Things I Hate About Mistletoe

“Hello?” Anthony said, turning onto the cereal aisle.

“Hey, where you at?” Pike asked, the sound of the radio playing quietly in the background. “I swung by your trailer, but you weren’t there.”

“I went to the store.” Great, Pike was looking to really celebrate with him. “I think I’m going to stay home tomorrow. Relax without having to be social.”

“I hear ya,” Pike said, his voice sad. “I’m not in the mood to sit around and smile either.”

“What do you mean?” Anthony asked.

“I went for it with Delilah, and she told me I missed my chance.”

Anthony hit the corner display of tortillas, taking a turn too sharp, and exhaled, “Shit!”

“I know.” Pike sighed. “I pulled out all the stops, too.”

Anthony shoved his cart off to the side of the next aisle, lowering his voice. “She really said that you missed your chance?”

“That and a lot more. Which is why I need a drink if I’m going to talk about it. Want to meet me at Brews?”

Even though his best friend hadn’t gotten the girl, Anthony didn’t want to listen to a forlorn Pike mourn his chance with Delilah either. Still, if the roles had been reversed, Pike would have been there for him.

“Sure, but it will be a bit,” Antony said, pushing his cart again. “I’ve got to finish shopping and put it away.”

“That’s fine, I’ll head on over and get started without you.”

“Alright, see you soon.” Anthony slipped the phone into his pocket, a wide grin splitting over his face. He should not be this happy about his best friend getting rejected, but Pike would get over it. The real question Anthony had circling his brain was why had Delilah said no? After carrying a torch for Pike for years, what had changed?

Hope blossomed in his chest as he thought about everything that had happened between the two of them. Had Delilah told Pike no because she had feelings for Anthony?

First thing to do was comfort his friend and then fix things with Delilah. Once Anthony told her that she’d misunderstood him and ask her to forgive him, she’d tell him the truth, right?

He found the last honey ham at the bottom of one of the refrigerator bins and tossed it in the air with a grin, catching it effortlessly. A flash of pink came around the corner, and Anthony looked up to meet Delilah’s deer-in-the-headlights expression and his chest seized.

“Hey,” he said.

She scoffed in response, turning her cart around and disappearing out of sight. What the hell had he done now?

Anthony chased after her down the aisle, riding the cart until he was almost on her heels, and hopped off before he crashed into her. “What, I don’t even get a greeting? Is this about me interrupting your make-out session with Pike?”

“We weren’t making out,” she hissed.

“That’s not how it looked from my angle.”

“Well, it wasn’t like that. Pike pulled a piece of mistletoe from his pocket and suggested we kiss.” She tossed a bag of Dot’s pretzels into her cart and turned onto the next aisle, with Anthony following behind. “He wanted to test out whether we had chemistry or not.”

“Did he really pull out mistletoe?” he asked.

Delilah nodded. “Yes, he freaking did.”

“Was he walking around all day, every day, with mistletoe in his pocket?” Anthony chuckled.

“I asked the same thing.” She was facing away from him so that he couldn’t tell for sure, but he thought she was laughing. “But he said no. He took it from the Winters’ house just in case.”

“I don’t know whether that is genius or creepy.”

“It was a little creepy.” This time, he heard the giggle.

Anthony swallowed back another laugh. He shouldn’t be standing in the middle of the store with her, laughing at his friend’s antics. He didn’t want to tell her that Pike had told him everything in case it gave her another reason to get angry with him.