Page 89 of Catching My Dreams

“An iced coffee for me, please,” Asher replied, but Riley stood from her seat instead of adding her own order.

“I’ll come with you,” she said before rounding the table and practically dragging Noah to the counter with her. Leaving Ella and Asher conveniently alone. Riley was many things, but apparently, she wasn’t very subtle.

“So, you and Noah?” Asher said after an awkward beat.

“Yep.”

“You two seem happy.” He’d seen them interact before, but he still sounded surprised, as though the idea of Ella and Noah being civil—let alone affectionate—with each other was a puzzle he couldn’t figure out.

“We are.”

“So, did it just happen?” he asked, his eyebrows lifted. “One day, you two just decided to stop hating each other?”

Ella sent her best friend a chastising glare. “No. It’s a bit more complicated than that.”

“Care to elaborate?”

“I’ve always had a bit of a thing for him,” she admitted.

Asher’s brows drew together. “Uh, I’m pretty sure that’s not true.”

Ella scowled. “I’m pretty sure I know myself better than you do.”

Asher shook his head. “I never had a clue.”

“I wanted it that way,” she said, feeling a stab of guilt for keeping it from him. “You were friends with him, too, and I didn’t want to make things weird.”

Asher looked to the side where Riley and Noah were waiting for their order. “Noah had a huge crush on you when we were kids, you know.”

Ella bit her bottom lip to contain her grin. “I know.”

Asher looked at the pair for a few more seconds before turning back to her. “I never understood why you two didn’t get along anymore, but I think I get it now.”

“You do?”

She hadn’t told him everything that had happened when they were younger, and as far as she knew, neither had Noah.

“There’s a thin line between love and hate.”

Ella let out an amused huff. “You have no idea. That man used to drive me crazy.”

“I noticed,” Asher replied dryly. “You two couldn’t be in the same room together for five seconds before the claws came out.”

Ella rolled her eyes even though he had a point.

“And now he’s bringing you to dinners at his dad’s house and memorizing your favorite coffee,” he continued. “It’s like some weird dream.”

“Well, get used to it,” Noah said, placing his and Ella’s coffees on the table and taking a seat next to her. He shifted his chair closer to hers and rested his hand on her thigh. “Because I’m not going anywhere.”

“Good.” Riley gave Asher his coffee and took a sip of her own. “Because Asher might have put up with it, but I don’t really feel like having to split my time between the two of you like you’re my divorced parents.”

Ella choked on the first sip of her lackluster, unflavored mocha. “What?”

Riley shrugged. “You know. Dinner at Ella’s one weekend and movie night at Noah’s the next.”

Asher laughed and wrapped his arm around the back of his girlfriend’s chair. “That analogy is surprisingly accurate.”

“We weren’t that bad,” Noah complained.

---