Page 34 of Never Say Yes To Your Best Friend (I said Yes)

“Not at all.”

“A taxi would cost a fortune. I can give you a ride if you want to take one from me. If you’d…if that would be okay. After we finish eating. Or not. I can understand if you want to leave immediately. I truly didn’t mean to sabotage this. Connor is really a great guy. He’s just had a rough go of it with his family. He normally doesn’t talk about that, so something extreme must have happened. I can only imagine.”

She tries a crab quiche while she’s thinking. I wish I knew what was going through her mind. I wish I could apologize again. More profusely. All night. “I think there was some truth in what he said.”

“Not all of it,” I counter.

“Not all of it. But some of it.”

I don’t know if we’re on the same page about the some of it part. I just know I’m not brave enough to confess that I haven’t stopped thinking about her. That I’ve had zero peace since I first met her, and my whole life has been upended in a number of weeks, and the only thing I would do differently is everything. I would be kinder, and I would try to hurt her less.

Fuck, I would doeverythingdifferently.

But if I had, we wouldn’t be here right now.

“As cheesy as it is, I think a beach walk might be nice. We could get the crabanana splits to go,” she says.

“Or come back for them another time.”

I expect anything from a very direct stare to her telling me there won’t be another time because this was supposed to pretty much be a final hurrah sort of deal before we each go off and live our respective lives that don’t involve each other.

“Do you like sunset walks on the beach with possible crab breath?” she asks.

“I don’t know. I’ve never done one,” I reply with a shrug.

“With the crab breath?”

“With or without crab breath.”

Her smile reminds me why my life has turned into a living hell. If I was just brave enough to ask her on a real date…but no. That would be a wrench in her life that she doesn’t want. You only have one chance to make a first impression, and I made such a terrible one that it’s going to linger like a bad crab stench for a lifetime. Dead crab. Hot sun. That kind of stench. The best we could ever be is friends, and even that might be a stretch.

“We definitely should, then.”

“To wash the bad taste of this whole experience out of your mouth?”

She laughs. “No, we should go because the beach is nice. Plus, I have gum, so no need to worry about crab breath or any other slightly dubious aftertastes.”

Chapter eleven

Evilla

Evilla

Apparently, our dates are disasters when they’re fake, when they’re not, and also when they’re supposedly not dates at all.

At least the beach is nice. It’s kind of weird because it’s not that late by the time we get there, only around eight and still at least an hour until sunset, but it’s really not that busy. There are zero sunbathers, only one adorable little girl walking with her mom but no other children, and a few couples and groups of friends, all of varying ages.

“I never come to the beach,” Mont says. It’s the first attempt at a conversation that he’s made since we left the crab place with a large number of to-go containers. There were a lot of appetizersleft over since we ordered for four people and ended up only needing food for two. “Especially not during peak season.”

“I think peak season is technically in a week when school lets out. Or spring break, which has already passed.” I give the beach another once over. It’s so freaking peaceful. “It’s hard to believe it’s not still packed, given that it’s the end of the week, almost officially summer for everyone, and it was gorgeous today. I guess that’s pretty much every day here, though. Tampa truly is so beautiful. We’re very spoiled.”

Mont nods. “What about when you were little? Did you come here?”

Oh, we’re going to do this. Reminiscing on a sandy sunset evening walk. It feels borderline romantic, but he asked, and I’m one of those rare people who has a hard time not answering truthfully when asked something so directly. “We did, but I remember it always being so packed and rowdy. That’s the mental image I get when I think about the beach. That it’s just a party scene. I still loved it, though. Doesn’t every kid love the beach?”

“Probably. But it’s not that fun when the people outnumber the grains of sand here, either.”

“Exactly. It’s stressful. I don’t like big crowds,” I say.

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