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Chapter 1

Chapter One

Wren

“Wren, that hot ass better be up!” Brandy, my best friend since community college, says as she bursts into my room. “Damn girl,” she whistles. “You look good.”

“Who, me?” I ask with a playful smirk.

I take one last glance at myself in the mirror. My cheeks aren’t sunken, my lips aren’t dry, and my skin isn’t as pale as it used to be. Still, my reflection isn’t exactly what I’d like it to be, but I shake those thoughts away.

“Who are you trying to impress?”

I chuckle before turning around to meet her piercing light brown eyes. “Please, we both know no one will be looking at me. Not with a literal queen walking by my side.”

She tosses her tight curls, and a gleaming smile brightens her sepia skin. “I’d like to see a man try!”

We both laugh as we walk out of my room.

“When will Mia be here?” I ask while gathering my bag and phone.

“Knowing her, just as we’re about to walk out the door.”

Brandy and Mia have been dating since college, about five years now. They are the definition of a match made in the stars. Two nerds who met in advanced mathematics, striving to take over the world with bold new perspectives and outlooks.

And then there’s me, struggling through day-to-day life.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate my job as an HR rep. I get to work from home and help people better their work environment. Deep in my gut, there’s a visceral need telling me I’m meant for more. I just haven’t stumbled into it yet.

“Will it just be the three of us this evening?” I ask while adjusting my cross-body bag over my shoulder.

“Unless a certain best friend of yours decides to crash our bookstore date again.” She chuckles while swinging her keys around her pointer finger.

“That wasn’t my fault. You and I both know I have no control over Theodore Torres. Never have, never will.”

“I still can’t wrap my head around it,” Brandy sighs in wonder while she opens the front door.

“What’s that?” I ask as I step into the hall.

“How you’re friends with a cam star.”

Most women our age don’t go to bookstores on Friday nights. Brandy, Mia, and I may only be twenty-seven, but our bodies believe they are at the ripe age of seventy, especially mine. Chronic illness will do that to you. Every week, we go to the bookstore to get a book to read over the weekend.

Following our routine, I order a hot chocolate while they order iced matchas. Brandy deviates from Mia and me to head toward the mathematics section.

“After all these years, I still don’t understand how she can read math for fun.” I almost gag.

“She’s an odd woman,” Mia sighs. “But I love her.”

Love like theirs is hard to come by. I once thought my parents had a great love, but that was before I discovered my mom’s infidelity. Or rather, before she told me. . . You wouldn’t cheat on your partner with their best friends if you loved them.

“Wren, look! It’s the book we’ve been waiting for.”

I turn and meet her excitement. We jump up and down, trying to stifle our squeals of glee. Mia’s short light blue hair bounces, and her greenish-brown eyes sparkle while she looks at me.

“Finally!” I exclaim. “Can we buddy read it this weekend? Pretty please?”

“Duh,” she chuckles, and I pump my free hand in my air.

“Wait, don’t you have to go out with Theo tomorrow?”

“Yeah, but not until after his plans.”

Brandy and Mia know Theo and I have been friends since the tenth grade, twelve years now. Mia adores him, but Brandy... not so much. She doesn’t understand why we’re still friends, especially with his career choice.

I don’t see Theo and think, “Man, this guy is a sex fiend.” I see him for who he is, and he’s a good man who cares for his friends and loved ones.

He doesn’t revolt me. In fact, I admire him. His internet fame didn’t change him. He’s still a social recluse who’d rather spend his days inside watching TV or playing video games.

“Are these plans or plans ?” Mia asks while wiggling her eyebrows.

“I didn’t ask,” I say in an amused tone.

“Okay, I’ve been dying to know.” Mia turns to face me, and I stare at her with a furrowed brow. “Did you two ever?—”

“Oh god, no.”

She chuckles, and her cheeks turn pink. “I had a feeling, but I had to ask.”

Theo and I started as friends, but there were moments when I toyed with the idea of us being something more. Then I discovered he’s naturally flirty, and his compliments were nothing more than that. Still, I would be lying if I said they didn’t get to me every now and then. He’s a handsome guy. Who wouldn’t want to pretend that your best friend, who you’ve known for more than a decade, suddenly became romantically interested in you?

After all, friends to lovers is one of my favorite tropes.

“Not that I would judge you.” Mia interrupts my thought process. “I was just curious,” she says while shrugging.

“I can honestly say we’ve never slept together,” I tell her while scanning the back of the book she hands me.

“But part of you is curious, right?”

My eyes shoot upward, and they grow two sizes. “Absolutely not.”

“Why not? That man has the body of a god.”

I walk past her and shake her words out of my head. “I can’t hear you!”

“Oh, come on! Indulge me!” She cackles while chasing after me.

I increase my pace and try to dodge her while weaving through the crowd and various bookshelves.

“I can’t because it’s never happened.” I roll my eyes while excusing myself past a couple.

“Not once? Not even when you were horny teenagers?”

I come to an abrupt stop, almost running straight into a little girl with blonde, curly hair. She looks at me, then back toward another woman before asking, “Mom, what does horny mean?”

I press my lips together, attempting to hold back a laugh. Before the mom can find us, I spin around, plant my hands on Mia’s shoulders, and walk forward. “Unless you want to explain to that kid what horny means, I suggest we get out of here.”

Mia snorts before falling into step with me. She loops her arm through mine, and we hurry away from the child we may have just traumatized.

Mia and I are still snickering when Brandy finds us. With a wary side-eye, she opts out of asking what happened, takes our books, and walks toward the register.

Mia and I are the troublesome duo in our trio friendship, and Brandy is the mother figure. Mia and Brandy would be living together if it weren’t for me. I’ve told Brandy time and time again that she can move out and I’ll be okay, but she worries. I haven’t had the greatest luck in the love department. None of my previous boyfriends lasted. Some didn’t have the patience for my food restrictions. One guy even had the audacity to ask me to stop being friends with Theo. He said he would leave and never look back if I couldn’t follow his wishes.

I left his ass the next morning.

Brandy doesn’t want to hear my concerns on the matter. She doesn’t care that I think I’m holding them back solely because she doesn’t believe I am.

She’s an “everything happens for a reason” type of gal. According to her, I’ll meet someone when it’s meant to happen.

I can’t help but wonder, though . . . Where would they be if I never met them? Where would I be if I never met them? Looking back at them, I sigh to myself.

Mom and Dad were right all those years ago: I truly am a burden.