Page 78 of How To Tackle A Crush
“I’m saying sometimes it’s easier to let people believe a version of you than to explain the real one. And it was drawing attention away from Alfie.”
She wipes a few crumbs off the table.
“I haven’t dated anyone since I moved to Carlisle though.”
Her eyes flick up slightly at that.
“Not even casually?”
“No time,” I say. “And no interest.” That part feels important.
She studies me like she’s trying to decide what that means.
“Carlisle doesn’t exactly scream glamorous dating pool,” she says.
I smile slightly. “I wasn’t looking.”
A small silence settles.
Then I add quietly, “Until recently.”
I don’t say her name.
I don’t have to.
The corridor is quiet when she steps out of the lift.
Second floor.
Ava turns towards me, still holding her key card between both hands like she needs something practical to focus on.
“Thank you,” she says. “For dessert.”
“My pleasure.”
There’s a small pause. The kind where normal people would say goodnight and go their separate ways.
She doesn’t move.
Instead she stays half turned toward me, like she’s working up the courage to say something and might still abort the mission.
Then she whispers, almost like she’s confessing something, “Sometimes I wish I was as confident as my friend Chloe.”
I lean one shoulder lightly against the lift wall. “What would Chloe do?”
Ava lets out a small breath that turns into a nervous smile.
“In this situation?”
“In this situation.”
She looks down briefly, then back up.
“In this situation she would probably ask if you wanted to come back to her room for a drink.”
There it is.
My heart starts to race.
