Page 8 of Don't Be in Love

“Unappealing to whom?” he argued. “Couldn’t have been you.”

“Maybe I was just looking for a good night!” I admitted.

“Says the woman who didn’t want to dance.”

“What do you want me to say, Rye—” I shut my mouth.

His eyes darted over my face. “I want you to say that you remember Saturday night the way I did.”

“Not all of us are great at understanding when a woman is no longer interested, and that’s okay,” I reassured him, patting his chest.

“You’re really not going to say why we can’t know each other?” he asked.

“Did my previous responses not answer that question already?” My hand waited on the doorknob.

“What do I have to do to get you to go on a date with me?” he asked with purpose, finally removing his hand from the door, and stuffing it into his pocket.

“A date?Are you insane?” I gawked.

“That’s not the usual response I get.”

“What do I have to do for you to leave me alone?” I asked with a lack of patience. I could feel my cheeks turning burning with frustration.

A moment of silence passed. God, I didn’t think he was actually going to take a moment to consider my question. What could this man possibly want from me? Wasn’t being rich enough?

He opened his mouth. “I’ll make a deal with you: I’ll keep our night quiet if you help me pass this class.”

“The class just started …”

“I’ve taken it before, so as you can imagine, it didn’t go well.”

“I work almost every day after class. So you’d have to come to me.”

“That’s fine.” He waited for me to say yes.

I considered his offer, trying to calculate how this plan could go wrong. It took only two seconds to compile the list of things that could go awry. But the bottom line was that no one could know what happened between us.

Hence why I said, “Okay.”

5

Don’t Confide in Your Siblings — Dorian

“I met someone,” I said.

“Dorian, you meet someone every weekend,” Jasmine said.

“You know what, I don’t quite remember why I called—”

“Don’t hang up! Don’t hang up!”

I waited for her reason.

“I told Tristan I had an important phone call, so I’m hiding in the bathroom hoping he’ll realize I’m busy and then just leave. If he hears that I’ve stopped talking, then he’ll never go.”

“Tristan? The guy Mum set you up with last month? You’restillseeing him? I thought you said he smelled like spicy crisps?”

She groaned. “I did. I just feel bad.”