April’s mouth was open in shock as she turned back to her two best friends. Their eyes were glued to her face, huge, shit-eating grins plastered on theirs.
“Does that mean—” began Emma.
“Was Noah talking about—” interrupted Izzy, almost gleeful.
“Surely not—” Emma looked both shocked and delighted.
“LUKE POINTER?!” they half shouted in unison.
“Guys,” said April, desperately trying to find something,anythingto throw them off the scent. “Do you seriously think I would get involved with Luke—Luke, of all people? Right after I broke off my engagement to Tyler? Right as I start setting up my own business? Which he’s trying tosabotage, might I remind you, with his stupid development company and stupid suits and probably stupid hard hats—” April broke off, suddenly finding herself slightly breathless at the thought of Luke wearing nothingbuta hard hat, all muscle and bulk and—God, she needed to get a grip. She swallowed thickly, and went to continue her speech, but Emma cut across her.
“Actually, April, yes, I think that’s exactly whatyou’ve done.” Emma’s tone was so matter-of-fact that it threw April off for a second.
“Andwhywould you think that? I haven’t even seen him for over a week now,” April countered, and it was true. She hadn’t spoken to him since her moment of weakness with those texts, but shedefinitelywasn’t telling the girls about that.
“Oh wow, a whole week? Your self-restraint is unparalleled,” said Emma, a taunting smile pulling at her mouth.
A masterclass in self-restraint.
April shoved the thought away but could feel her cheeks burning at the memory.
“You and Luke have been dancing around each other for years,” Izzy chimed in, and April’s eyes narrowed at her friend.Traitor. Izzy held up her hands. “Look, don’t shoot the messenger. But ask anyone from our high school. You two always had avibe.” She said the last word with a particular emphasis that April didn’t like one bit.
“Excuse me, Isobel, what kind of ‘vibe’”—she mimed air quotes around the word—“would that be?”
“A kind of will-they-won’t-they, oh-for-the-love-of-God-I-hope-they-will-so-they-stop-arguing vibe,” Emma said simply, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Wha—” April was speechless. How had they misread the so-called ‘vibe’ so badly? Pulling herself together, she retorted, “No, no, Em, that’s not right.The only ‘vibe’ Luke and I have ever had is a distinct, profound hatred for each other. We don’t evenlikeeach other. We agreed on that the other night when we were ki—” She cut herself off, silently cursing herself for letting on too much, praying that it wasn’t too late. But …
“When you werewhat, Miss Jones?” Izzy was once again gleeful. “Kissing Luke Pointer, by chance?”
“In ahighly inappropriate situation, perhaps?” Emma’s smile was wider than April had ever seen it.
“OK, OK, fine. Oh myGod, you guys are relentless,” April finally conceded as laughter bubbled up inside her. “Yes, we kissed. A few times. OK, fine.” She quailed under her friends’ unrelenting stares. “More than a few times. And maybe there was a tiny little … moment in my mom’s kitchen. But that was your fault!” She rushed the words out before Emma or Izzy could interrupt, pointing at them both. “If you hadn’t invited Luke in for iced tea and then abandoned me, nothing would have happened!”
“Aha! Iknewit!” Emma turned to Izzy, exuding satisfaction as she held her palm out. “Pay up, Iz.”
“Dammit,” Izzy muttered, fishing around in her pocket and eventually handing over a ten-dollar bill.
“Wait, you guys were betting on me and Luke hooking up?” April’s brain was barely keeping up with what she was seeing.
“Well, yeah. As soon as you agreed to that date after you got back to town, we knew it was only a matterof time,” said Izzy simply. “Although you could’ve waited a little longer, April. I’m out ten bucks now.”
“That’s my perfect little slut,” said Emma, pinching April’s cheeks as she stared at them in disbelief. There was a moment of silence, and then they were all laughing, harder than April could remember laughing in the longest time, clinging to each other until there were tears in April’s eyes and her stomach ached.
“If you guys knew all along, why didn’t you just say?” April asked after she had finally caught her breath.
Izzy shrugged as Emma said, “It was sort of funny, seeing you deny you hadanyfeelings for Luke. It’s just been so damn obvious to anyone who’s spent even two minutes in yours and Luke’s company. You guys have needed to release some tension for a while now; really you justneedto f—”
“OK, OK.” April couldn’t take any more of Emma’s and Izzy’s all-knowing revelations. “Whatever you guys say. Now can we please,please, paint these shelves? At this rate they aren’t going to be ready in time for my opening!”
“Yes, yes, sorry,” said Izzy, face still red from laughing so hard. “But consider this a big, fat ‘we told you so’.”
Izzy and Emma were still chuckling to themselves as they each picked up a paintbrush and dutifully headed over to the shelving unit, while April cracked open the paint can.
“And, for the record”—April couldn’t stop herself from having the last word as she dipped her brush—“Luke and I might have hooked up, but that hasn’t changedanythingbetween us. I still find him irritating as hell and perhaps the cockiest person I’ve ever met. I do not like him.”
April tried to sound as firm as she could, and neither of her friends countered, but the words felt untrue even as they left her mouth. The vision of him under the streetlight after the dinner they’d shared with her mom flashed before her eyes, and again she felt that strange sensation that was more than lust growing in her chest. Despite how frustrating she’d found their text conversation later that night, there was still something about him that she just couldn’t shake. She shoved it down, focusing on her brushstrokes along the wood. She was just confused post-Tyler. But even as she willed herself to believe it, she could tell she wasn’t letting herself acknowledge the whole truth.