Page 154 of Never Not Friends

“You had a lot going on.”

“I did.” I nod a few times, liking all the prolonged eye contact between us.

And it hits me that, for the first time in years, we’re both single at the same time.

That feels monumental.

There’s absolutely nothing I should do with that realization right now, but my body doesn’t get the memo, because there’s an immediate jump in my pulse.

“I was actually headed home to clean out Chili’s cage.”

My smile lifts. “That’s the reason why you can’t grab a bite to eat with me?”

“Well, the smell kept me up all last night. So it feels pretty urgent.”

“I see.”

“But…”

A flicker of hope burns inside me with that one word.

“If you want, you can come back to my place and help me with that.”

“Help you clean out Chili’s cage?”

“Yeah, I mean, no pressure.”

“I’d love to.” I answer so eagerly that I’ve completely tipped my hand, but I don’t even care. Apparently, I’m up for anything with this woman, even cleaning out chinchilla poop.

“Should we go together?” She nods at her car.

“Yeah.”

I walk around to the passenger side and hop in right as she turns the car on. My eyes stop on the cowboy hat air freshener hanging from her rearview mirror, and it dawns on me: “I don’t think I’ve ever been in your car.”

I’ve known Emma for more than a decade, and yet there are still little pieces of her I’ve never seen. The type of sunglasses she likes, the pink water bottle in her cupholder, how close she sits to the steering wheel.

It’s weird how intimate this all feels.

“Yeah, I don’t think you have been in my car before. We’ve always taken yours or Juliet’s.”

I glance behind me to the backseat. “It’s very clean.”

“If you’re going to be judging the cleanliness of my entire existence, then I really don’t think you should come over to my apartment.”

“No, you’re not being graded.” I hold her gaze. “I just really like seeing new sides of you.”

A soft smile tugs at her lips as she stares back at me. It’s probably the same look she’s given me a hundred times, except now I notice everything I’ve apparently been too stupid to see before. The pink in her cheeks. The way she’s fighting her smile. The extra second she lets her eyes stay on mine before looking away.

I hate that, for all these years, I didn’t see Emma the way she saw me. But now that I’ve started seeing her again, I’m not sure how I’m supposed to stop.

All this eye contact makes her nervous. She turns her head and shifts the car into gear. “You can be in charge of the music.”

“Actually, I’d really like to know what you listen to. Last I remember, it was One Direction and Paramore. You used to play that song “Still Into You” over and over in high school.”

Her face lights up. “You remember that?”

“I remember a lot about you, Emma.”