Page 27 of That Emerald Vow

She furrows her eyebrows and curiously says, “Ohh-kay.”

After taking a sip of liquid courage in the form of a draft beer, I say, “So I actually got Damon’s number that night, and we’ve been hanging out.”

Her mouth immediately widens into a grin. “Oh, yeah?”Ugh.I guess we haven’t been as subtle as we thought.

“It’s not like that.” My eyes dart across the room, looking at anythingbut my best friend. “We’ve been playing wing person for each other.”

Looking disappointed she says, “Oh, okay. How has that gone? Any prospects?” She fully turns her chair to face me, interested in where this conversation is going.

“Well . . . it hasn’t really gone anywhere . . .” I say, biting my lip. “We never find anyone . . . good enough. So we end up spending the whole night at the bar together.” We’ve gone out two more times this week, but we always find ourselves at the diner, where they’re still giving us free dessert for our fake engagement the other night.

She gives me a knowing smile. “That’s not a bad thing, Char. It’s okay to have a relationship with—”

“I don’t do relationships,” I say, louder than I intended.

“Yes, you do. Here you and I are. A relationship. The best kind, I might add,” she says, winking at me. “And it’s okay to get close to someone else too. Even if they have a penis.”

“ButwhatifIwantmore?” I whisper at lightning speed. The first time I’ve allowed myself to admit it out loud.Fuck. This is real, isn’t it?

“So what if you do?” she challenges me, lifting an eyebrow.

“It’s what you said the other day, Lily. We do things . . . things that most people don’t approve of.”

“Why are we jumping ten thousand steps? How about we start with the first date and figure it out from there?” she asks.

Now it’s my eyebrow that goes up in defiance. “Okay. But I’m not you, Lils. You and Ade had this weird, undying love for each other that lasted no matter what happened.”

Her jaw clenches.Uh-oh. Here comes the best friend speech.“And you’re Charlie fucking Thatcher. Anyone would be lucky to have you, and I think D and you can be good together. It’s worth a chance. ”

“I don’t know Lils—” I start to say.

Her whole demeanor changes and she straightens her back. “It’s showtime. Six o’clock.” She motions her head in the direction of the two men who walked into the bar, Mathew Olsen and Joseph Hall. Better known as Mullet and Pornstache—dubbed by Lily. They’re the assholes from the bar who tried to harass Lily and me. As always, we did our research, and of course their rap sheet of offenses are longer than a CVS receipt.

I nod back in understanding. We stand up and clumsily walk in their direction but sway a bit to the left.

“Oh my God. Babess I think I dwank a bit tooooo much,” she slurs and purposely grabs onto me.

I cling onto her too. “I-I thwink you’re right,” I say as I giggle.

“Well, well, well. Look what we have here,” Mullet says.

Pornstache turns his attention to us still clinging on to each other. “I-it’s you from the other day.” Lily leans over to them and pretends to stumble and fall onto them.

Mullet catches her, his hands automatically sliding down to cup her ass. I scream at every instinct I have to beat his ass as I stand there, slouched in character.

“I got you,” he says.

Pornstache walks over to me and puts his arm around my waist. “Why don’t we help these ladies home before someone takes advantage of them?” They both allow their eyes to roam over our bodies. We’re both wearing skinny jeans, ankle booties, and long-sleeve blouses that show off our cleavage.

“Oh. Would you? That would be sooooo sweet.” She giggles.

They smirk at each other like they just won the lotto. “Of course we will.”

As we suspected, instead of taking us to our homes—not that they even asked for that information—they took us to the woods a few miles out.

“W-where are we going?” I croak out.

“Oh, we just want to show you something fun up here. It’ll only take a minute,” says Pornstache.

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