Page 118 of Anyone But Her

"I could still go. I could be your wing woman."

"It wouldn't work. You're hotter than me. All the guys would want you instead of me. Anyway, why don't you want to hang out by the pool today?"

I lower my voice. "Luke and I almost got caught this morning."

"Caught what? Doing it?"

"No! Cal almost got caught me coming out of the guest house this morning. I fell asleep last night with Luke and accidentally stayed over. When I got up I snuck back to the house and Cal was in the kitchen. He asked me what I was doing out there."

"What'd you tell him?"

"That I was thinking of going for a swim. I told him I don't like swimming later in the day when it's really hot."

"But that's completely opposite of you. You love swimming when it's really hot. That's the best excuse you could come up with?"

"I was tired. I just woke up. I didn't know what to say."

"Did Cal believe you?"

"I don't know. I'm not sure. I think he's definitely getting suspicious. He asked me stuff about Luke, like why I always ignore him and don't talk to him."

"Taylor, I told you to stop doing that."

It's true. Birdie keeps telling me to pay more attention to Luke when I'm around my family. She says ignoring him seems like I'm covering up something between us and apparently she's right. But I never know what to say to him when my family is around.

"Yeah, I know. I'll work on it. But for now, I don't know how to handle Cal. I don't want him even thinking I'm interested in Luke."

"Then you need to go on a date. This new guy just started at the coffee shop. He's a couple years older than us but really cute. I could try to set you up with him."

"I don't want to go out with another guy. It's not fair to Luke and it's not fair to whoever this other guy is."

"You only need to go out once or twice just to show Cal you have no interest in Luke. It worked when you went out with Noah."

"Not really. I couldn't even fake being attracted to Noah."

"But that's normal for a blind date. You never know what you're gonna get. What mattered is that you went out with him and you did it in front of Luke, which showed Cal that you're not interested in Luke."

"Let me think about it."

Now that I love Luke as much as I do, I don't want to hurt him by going out with some other guy, even if it's fake.

"So what about this afternoon?" Birdie asks. "I really need some pool time. And some Taylor time. I barely saw you last week."

It's because I was golfing. My dad took Cal and me to different courses every day and some were out of town so we didn't get back until late.

"Okay, you can come over but I'm going to tell Cal you made me go out there in the hot sun."

"Works for me. I don't care what you tell Cal. Feel free to add that I still think he's immature and annoying."

I laugh. "I think he already knows that. You make that clear every time you see him."

"I have to get back to work. I'll be there around two-thirty or three."

"Okay, bye."

A text pops up. I love you.

I smile and text back, I love you too.

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