Page 50 of Not in My Book

“How’s it going with you two?” I turned to Jess. I felt bad I hadn’t been much of a friend to Jess lately. I’ve been so caught up in my own drama with Aiden, I’ve been neglecting my best friend duties of helping her get together with Tyler. Then again, she refused to do anything the last time I mentioned it. I’ve encouraged her to at leasttexthim outside of our group thread, but she barely even talks to him when he’s sitting right there.

“Literally nothing is happening.” She placed her forehead on the table in despair. “He’s so hard to read.”

“He likes you,” Logan insisted. “He’s always looking at you in workshop.”

“That’s because I sit right across from him.”

He shrugged. “Beggars can’t be choosers.”

Jess let out a strangled noise, hitting her head against the table. “Rosie what do I do? You’re the romance expert.”

I grimaced. “I wish I could help, but Tylerisreally hard to read. Half the time I wonder if he even enjoys hanging out with us.”

“We should confront him,” Logan said, slapping his hand down on the table.

“You’re just tipsy.” Jess sat up. “Actually … maybe I should get super drunk and confess my feelings to him.”

I shook my head. “Tyler is too good of a guy for anything to come from that. If that happened, he’d probably apologize toyouthen never bring it up again. I say ask him out for coffee after class. Maybe next time he gives you a comment in workshop ask him to ‘elaborate further,’ ” I said slowly, widening my eyes.

Jess brightened, tucking her dark hair behind her ears. “And this is why you are our resident romantic.”

Tyler came back then, setting down the beers in the center of the table. “Can we circle back to you and Aiden being friends?” he asked, sipping one of the beers. “I feel like we moved on from this too quickly.”

I hesitated. Being friends with Aiden was nothing like I had expected it to be. I’d thought maybe we’d just start being nicer to each other, but lately I’d found myself always reaching for my phone to text him. It started when I asked for advice on one of our chapters, but soon I wanted to know his opinion on everything. I kept reminding myself the feelings weren’t real, just a result of spending so much time with him. But I couldn’t stop my heart from beating harder every time he nodded at me on the way into class or told me he liked my chapter after I sent it. I craved more and more, and I wasn’t sure when this newfound desire for his attention would be satiated.

“It’s not a big deal,” I said finally. “He’s not that bad.”

“I think it’s a great thing,” Logan said. “The chapters have been getting better.”

Our characters were no longer enemies and were slowly but surely making their way toward lovers. Our truce really allowed us to putmore of ourselves in the characters, and we couldn’t stop writing. I had written more words in the past few weeks than I had in the pastyear. Suddenly, everything looked different.

“And you two have been way nicer to each other in class.” Logan waggled his eyebrows at me suggestively. I rolled my eyes and sipped my beer, hoping they couldn’t see my blush.

Today in class, we’d been mid-discussion about our chapters when Aiden spoke up.

“I haven’t been able to give Rosie feedback on this chapter, actually.”

I’d held my breath, a little nervous that our new friendship meant absolutely nothing to him, and we were on our way back to insults.

Ida had reluctantly nodded before saying, “Go ahead.”

“I think one of the strengths of this chapter, and really the work as a whole, is your ability to make dialogue seem so realistic. It’s never stilted or awkward.” He was reading off his notes from the chapter, flipping through the pages. “And, obviously, something I’m not as good at is the romance of it all, but you’re able to fill in the blanks with surprisingly tender moments.”

“You may not be as good at the romance,” I had blurted in response, “but I think you do a really good job of keeping us grounded. I tend to want to romanticize everything, but you make it feel real.”

“Well, to be fair, the reason the characters have become so dynamic is because you set them—”

“Sure.” I’d waved him off. “But when you rein me in it adds more tension—”

“While I’m loving this friendly exchange for once,” Ida interrupted, “I think it’s time to move onto other pieces.”

“Right.” I had sat back in my seat, a blush forming on my cheeks.

“That was nothing,” I insisted to the group now. “Everyone’s nice to each other in workshop.”

“I guarantee you, Aiden has never been that nice to anyone in hislife,” Logan said. “Maybe he has a little crush.” He reached over the small booth of the table to pinch my cheek, but I shoved him away.

“Shut up.”

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