Page 59 of You Again

My fingers trace over the sewn ridge on Fran’s very grown-up couch. It’s nothing like that used green velvety thing we used to own. “As a friend. Yes.”

“But you said he’s sort of… hot.” Fran takes one quick sip from her lemonade. “In fact, there was nothing sort of about it. You said you’d never met a specimen like him. Plus, there was that whole bum incident on the Fourth⁠—”

“There was no bum incident. There was stripping and⁠—”

“Close enough.” She shrugs.

“And he wasn’t stripping.”

She waves me off. “Doesn’t matter.”

“I’m pretty sure it does,” I huff and sink into my couch cushion. “Seriously, why did I tell you that he’s cute? Of course you’d take it out of context.”

“You also said, sexiest man alive contender. And you told me because I’m your best friend, you love me, and who else are you going to tell?”

I gasp. “I did not say that!”

“You did.”

I groan out a dramatic sigh. One that makes me want to tell myself to get a grip. Though… I might have said that. The fact is, Zev is a fantastic male specimen. “Fine. But Frances⁠—”

Fran’s turn to gasp.

I keep talking. “While Zev is handsome and very nice, he is just a friend. We both know I have confused romantic feelings right now, and I should probably figure those out before moving on. Not to mention, my brain is literally broken.”

She smacks my arm. “Your brain is not broken. It’s in the shop.”

I snort out an unintelligible sound.

“You do need to figure things out and move on because Robert’s no good. Not to mention married. The sooner you understand that, the better.”

My heart palpitates with her words. I trust Fran. I always have. But my heart and head trust Robert, too. It’s confusing. It’s like Fran and Robert are on two ends of a tug-of-war rope—and I’m the rope.

“How do I figure it out?”

Fran shrugs. “Action.” She stabs the table with her pointer finger. “You do something. You can’t sit in this space of uncertainty.” There’s so much conviction in her voice. Then—she glances at her watch, and her sweet tone is back. “Shoot. I have an appointment with a very anxious bride. I can’t be late.”

I stand. “You’re fine. I need to head out anyway.”

“I’ll see you later,” she says, getting to her feet and hugging me goodbye. My best friend is all grown up. A real job and she’s married. She’s so responsible.

I head out to my car but check my phone before I start the engine. I have one text message.

Rosalie? It’s Robert.

I stare, heart thudding, and then my fingers text⁠—

Me: The vampire?

Robert: Nope. The engineer.

That’s him.

Me: How’d you get my number?

Robert: I have connections.

Robert: What are you up to?