Leti
Remind me why you’re doing this again?”
Bella is sitting on my bed as I apply makeup at my desk.
I have a first date with Anerie tonight, and my redo date with Nathaniel tomorrow.
My other match ended up canceling, so I’m calling that one DOA.
Julian has been very cagey about when our third date will be, but I’m assuming it’ll be on Sunday.
Three dates in one weekend. I’ve never felt more like a player.
Or a Sex and the City character. Take your pick.
“If you think about it, it’s not that different from what I was doing before. I’m simply exploring my options.” I dip an eyeshadow brush into an ethereal shade of lavender. “Julian included this time.”
“And he’s really okay with this?”
“He wants a chance at more, and I have no idea what I want. Complicated with Julian, or uncomplicated with someone else.”
Not to mention he might be in love with someone else, but that’s one spiral I really don’t want to go down tonight.
What if you choose someone else?
That won’t happen.
How is he so sure of that?
“Does it have to be one or the other?” Bella asks. “You’re both clearly obsessed with each other. Why not be together, fuck the complications?”
“I’m not sure how clear that is, for one.” When she asks what I mean, I shake my head. “But mostly I’m scared it won’t work out and it’ll create an even bigger rift between me and Andrew. As it is, he’s already convinced all I’m going to do is hurt Julian in the end.”
“You’ve never cared what that asshole thought before,” she says as I reach for the black liquid liner. “Don’t start now that you’ve finally found someone great, bad taste in best friends notwithstanding.”
“It’s not that easy.” I sigh. “As my best friend, you know you come before any romantic partner I’ll ever have in my life, always. I’m betting good money the same rule applies to Julian, which doesn’t exactly leave me in a good spot.”
“I hadn’t thought about that,” Bella admits. “But he also decked Andrew for talking down to you, on his birthday mind you, so I’m sure it’s more nuanced than that.”
It was the first time in recent memory that anyone stood up to Andrew on my behalf, so maybe Bella has a point. Still, Julian’s delusional enough to believe that with a little intervening, he can help fix things between me and Andrew. What will he do when he finds out he’s wrong?
“Okay, I think I’m ready.” I stand up and smooth out my long velvet skirt before doing a little pose. “What do you think?”
“You look beautiful.” She grins at me. “Julian’s going to love it.”
“You’re not funny.” I grab my purse before leaving my bedroom. “Don’t wait up.”
“Are you seeing him after your date?” she calls from my bedroom as I reach the hallway. “Is that why I shouldn’t wait up?”
“Goodbye!”
Andrew answers the door after my knock, effectively ruining the good mood I had going from my date with Anerie.
We had a great time but agreed we saw each other more as friends than potential romantic partners.
The funny thing is if she’d said that to me a few months ago, it would’ve soured my whole week.
I never understood what that meant, if it was a lack of physical attraction they felt or some elusive spark or vibe that was missing, and part of me still doesn’t quite get it.
But instead of fixating on what she meant, I was relieved as soon as she told me.
“You’re very purple tonight,” he says, opening the door wider so I can come in. “Julian’s in his room.”
“Thanks.” I cross my arms over my chest, cringing when my brother plops down on the couch. Last weekend, I came on Julian’s tongue on that couch. The memory alone heats up the place a good five or ten degrees, but I fear I’m about to burst into flames. “Um, are you in for the night?”
“Yup,” he says, eyes trained on the TV.
“I thought you spent most nights with Kayla,” I say, if only to avoid thinking about where he’s sitting. “Are you two still fighting?”
“Be careful, Leti. You almost sound like you care.” I roll my eyes as Julian emerges from his bedroom.
“Hey.” His arms wrap around me, and I nearly sink into him until Andrew clears his throat, and we jump apart. “Wow, you look great in violet.”
“Thank you.” My cheeks glow with the praise. “I made sure my drink matched the outfit too.”
“The Taylor Swift bar crawl, right? Let me guess—you got the lavender haze.”
“Close, it was wonderstruck,” I tell him. “After the perfume. I begged my parents for an entire year to get a bottle for my twelfth birthday, but they didn’t bite.”
“Isn’t that the year you flunked your Spanish test?” Andrew chimes in.
I stare daggers at the side of his face because he’s too chickenshit to face me.
He knows good and well it is because our entire family called me “la gringa” and teased me for weeks afterward.
“Maybe if you’d bothered to study or ask our parents for help, they would’ve bought you the perfume.
We’re Mexican. There’s no reason you should’ve failed. ”
“Come on, we all know the Spanish we hear at home isn’t the same as the classes we took in high school,” Julian says before turning back to me. “I’m a no sabo kid too. I came out with a C one year and got the lecture of a lifetime from my dad.”
“It’s her fault for not picking up on it when she was younger,” Andrew goes on. “Elena and I are fluent.”
I narrow my eyes at him, because I know for a fact he still struggles with the language. His accent is choppy on a good day, and I’ve spotted the Duolingo app on his phone on more than one occasion. Before I can call him out on it, though, Julian’s expression turns diabolical on his best friend.
“Man, I wouldn’t sit there if I were you.” He wraps an arm around my waist and completely ignores the panic in my eyes. “We got up to some pretty dirty business the other day on the exact cushion you’re occupying. Hard to tell whose come you’re sitting on right now.”
“Ew, what the fuck?!” He jumps off the couch and makes a show of wiping down his clothes with a napkin. “Argh, forget this. I’m calling Kayla.”
“Good luck with that,” Julian says as he steers us into his bedroom.
Once the door is shut, I slap his shoulder.
“Ow!”
“Why the hell did you do that?” I try to slap at him a second time but he catches my wrist and then the other when I try again. My anger was only half-hearted at best, but it melts away completely when he brings my knuckles to his lips.
“He deserved it.” He takes turns kissing the tops of both hands. “Maybe it’ll inspire him to do some cleaning if Kayla turns him down again. He’s been spending a lot of nights here. It’s kind of freaky.”
“Has it really been that bad?” I ask, guilt niggling in the pit of my stomach.
Almost immediately as it comes, I shake myself out of it.
What reason do I have to feel guilty for Andrew being an ass to his girlfriend?
He chose to tackle Julian on his own. He got himself into his own mess—he can clean it up alone.
“I’m a little worried,” Julian admits. “And I think there’s more to it than the fight last weekend, despite what he’s told me.”
“He mentioned that to me too,” I say. “If not the fight, what do you think she’s mad at him for?”
He shrugs. “I’m not sure if I should ask Kayla what’s going on. We’re not that close, so she might not tell me. You know how hard it is for me not to get in the middle of other people’s business.”
“Sure do.” I smirk at him. “That’s kinda how we got in this mess in the first place. You just had to meddle in my dating life.”
“Speaking of.” He steers us toward the edge of his bed. I take a seat next to him as he asks, “How was the date?”
“It was pretty fun, but we agreed to be platonic,” I say. “They had a karaoke machine, and I belted my ass off to Reputation all night.”
“The superior album,” he agrees. “Why did you agree to be platonic?”
“She said she saw us as just friends.” I shrug. “Which was completely fine. Kinda took the edge off, really. I didn’t have to spend the whole night worrying if I was datable enough.”
“Bummer.” He doesn’t seem that bummed, but then again, neither do I. “You’re both bi gamers. I really thought you’d hit it off.”
“Maybe it would’ve bummed me out when we first made this deal, because I still don’t understand what makes someone friend material versus romance material, but it was for the best.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” he says. “That’s one down, three more to go.”
“Speaking of, when are we going on our date?”
“Patience, woman.” His smirk lifts the side of his mouth. “You still have two more contenders before you get to me.”
“About that.” I bring my legs up on the bed, scooting back to better face him. “One of my matches canceled, so I’m tapping out at three dates—Anerie, Nathaniel, and you.”
“You don’t have to tap out at three,” he tells me. “If you want to keep exploring your options, we can extend the timeline and I can keep helping you.”
“I don’t need more options,” I tell him. “It’ll be between you and Nathaniel. That makes the most sense anyway, since I’ve spent the most time with both of you.”
Nathaniel is the easy road. My parents already like him, and he’s over complicated romantic relationships. He’s charming, handsome, and worth more of a chance than I’ve given him so far.
But who am I trying to fool, here? He’s not Julian.
I’m this close to caving, if only because all my fears about him dissipate a little bit more each day. Maybe Bella’s right about there being more nuance to Julian’s friendship with Andrew than I originally thought. He stood up for me again tonight, and this was Andrew on his good behavior.
“And then we’ll go on our third first date. It has this over-the-top, ridiculous ring to it that’s just your style.”
“Our style.” He returns my grin.
“Our style,” I agree, because the more time I spend with him, the more his brand of ridiculousness rubs off on me. “Did you ask out your mystery person yet?”
“Yes,” he says, but he has trouble maintaining eye contact. “You don’t need to worry about that.”
“Well, good.” I give a tight nod as he returns to me. “Which now begs the question, when can I expect our third first date to occur? Sunday?”
“You’ll have to wait a little bit longer than that, I’m afraid.” He kisses my cheek. “It’s in the making.”
“What do you mean ‘it’s in the making’?” I push at his chest. “It’s been a week already. What does this date entail, exactly?”
“Nice try.” He smirks, amusement dancing in his brown eyes. “You’ll have to wait and see.”
“Hmm.” My hand curls at the collar of his shirt as I pull him down to me. “You sure are putting a lot into this date, aren’t you?”
“Oh, you have no idea.” His kiss is slow and languid as his lips close over mine, as if we’ll have all the time in the world for it.
But that’s not exactly true, is it? He could decide I’m not the one he wants to be with after he goes on a date with the person he’s supposedly in love with.
My heart races at the thought and stops me from breathing as his mouth continues to move against mine.
My brother is wrong. If I don’t get a handle on things, and soon, I’m the one who’s going to end up hurt.