Page 18 of He Loves Me Not

"Alright!" Emelia cries a few minutes later, nudging me with her foot under the table. "What is going on with you?"

"What? Who? What?"

"Oh, that's not suspicious at all," Nova snorts into her water.

I scowl at her. "There's nothing going on."

"You little liar!" Seraphina jabs me in the upper arm.

"I'm not lying."

"Yeah? Then why are you as red as Nova's nails right now?"

Dammit. Busted.

"Fine," I groan, squeezing my eyes closed. "Maybe I'm having an existential crisis."

"It's ten in the morning, Ava," Nova says, laughing. "You cannot have one of those before noon."

I crack an eye open, looking at her. "I slept with Dawson."

If a pin dropped right now, a deaf monk in Tibet could hear it. That's how silent the table is. All three of them are staring at me like I just announced that I'm from Mars.

"Stop looking at me like that!" I cry, slouching down on the bench.

"Sorry," Emelia says first. "We're just…"

"Too stunned to speak," Nova says.

"Our flabbers are ghasted," Seraphina adds.

"Proud of you," Emelia growls firmly, glaring at our friends.

"That too." Seraphina grins, completely unrepentant.

"I guess this means he doesn't hate you?" Nova asks.

I launch my straw at her head.

"What happened?" Emelia asks.

"He texted me about dinner and got on my nerves, so I said that I was bringing my hot neighbor."

"What hot neighbor?" Seraphina blinks at me. "You don't have a hot neighbor."

"I lied," I say, shrugging. "He was annoying me."

Seraphina giggles.

"The point is, he really didn't like hearing about my non-existent hot neighbor." I recount how I found him in my bedroom and lost my towel, which they find hysterical, naturally. "And then things happened. Last night, after dinner, we slept together."

"Go back to these things that happened. Are you talking about sex things or talking things?" Nova asks.

My face heats, which seems to be all the answer she needs because she high-fives Seraphina.

"So…what now?" Emelia asks.

"He said we don't have to tell anyone."