Page 170 of Just for the Plot

She smiles softly. “Me too.”

“Surprise!”

I nearly fall down the stairs of my apartment building when I see Gabby waiting outside.

“Oh my God, Gabby, what…what are you doing here?”

“Ryland’s sisters had to come here for a meeting about expanding their store into a possible little pop-up that involved meeting with Hattie’s best friend’s husband, and well, you get it, they had to come here and I begged to catch a ride. I’m here for a few hours. Want to grab lunch?”

“Uh, yeah,” I say, still shocked as she screeches and comes up to me, pulling me into a hug. Fear washes through me, because the last time I saw her, I hadn’t touched her brother the way I have now and I feel like she can see it all over my face.

When she pulls away, she asks, “Where do you want to go? We can either find a place or we can eat in and just hang out at your apartment.”

Fuck, is there anything in my apartment that would make her think I went down on her brother and sucked him until he came in my mouth?

I can’t remember, therefore, I don’t want to risk it.

“There’s actually a great sandwich shop around the corner that I’d love to take you to.”

“Sounds perfect.” She loops her arm through mine and says, “Lead the way.”

Trying to calm myself and remain as cool as possible, I make our way down the street and to the right while she clings on to me.

I should feel excited, thrilled that my best friend is here, but instead, it’s like a giant elephant is crushing my chest, making it nearly impossible to breathe, because I broke her trust. I’m deceiving her and that…that fucking hurts. And seeing her in person, it just brings the truth of it all to the forefront.

No more hiding.

Now I just have to lie to her face.

“So what’s been going on?” she asks. “Anything fun and exciting happening? I feel like we haven’t chatted in forever.”

“Yeah, been quite busy,” I say, swallowing the lump that’s in my throat.

Do not fucking cry, Bower. Get through this lunch, cry after, but do not break down in front of her.

“Adalade putting you to work?”

“Yeah, and I’ve been working on that book truck thing.”

Gabby perks up. “Really? Oh my God, tell me more.”

“So he helped you find a truck?” Gabby asks as she dips her spoon into her squash soup. We both went for the squash soup and grilled cheese, something I knew she’d like. And then we opted for water.

I’ve kept the conversation pretty neutral, focusing on anything and everything but Bennett, so that’s why we’re talking about Cougar now.

“I mean, I narrowed it down to two and then he pointed out the difference between the tires. It was helpful, and he offered up the idea of the truck being the mascot in the logo. Just supportive all around.”

“Sounds like a bunch of green flags to me.” She wiggles her brows.

If only she knew.

Cougar is a combination of green, beige, and red. Red flags as in warnings to me that I don’t believe there is much chemistry there, but then again, it feels like all my chemistry is pent up and just explodes whenever I’m around Bennett.

“When are you two going out again?”

“Um, I think tomorrow night,” I say. “He asked me out.”

“Ooo, that’s exciting. And you said you two haven’t kissed or anything, right?”