Page 6 of From Our First

But then the memories overlapped one another. The idea that I knew what he looked like when he lost all faith. Or the betrayal that slid over a person when they realized that the one they thought they loved more than anything didn’t trust them.

No, I wasn’t going to think about that.

“So, what you’re saying is that I have a lot of men to choose from?” I asked. Yes, I needed to do this. Because the more I thought about Nate, the worse it would be for everybody. Nate and I needed to learn to be friends. We hadn’t exactly been that before, and somehow, we needed to figure it out now.

Because I could not be Nate’s.

And he certainly wasn’t mine.

I had lost that hope long ago, given up on that promise. I would make a new one. To anyone that I could. Anyone but Nate.

“Okay, girls, sign me up,” I blurted.

They all stared at me, blinking.

“Really?” Paris asked. She let out anoofas Hazel elbowed her.

“What Paris means is that it took you a lot to get here, and now you’re about to lean into it. You aren’t going to forget to show up for these dates, right? Because that would be rude. And you are not rude.” Hazel paused. “Okay, you can be rude sometimes, but not to strangers.” She paused again. “Okay, what I mean is—”

I cut her off, holding up my hand. “No, no. I think I know where you’re going with this, and the more you keep digging that hole, the harder it is for me to remain your friend.”

“Sorry,” she mumbled.

“No, I understand. I’m the icy bitch queen. It gets me where I need to be. However, we talked about promises. And I’m not going back on that.”

Plus, I needed a future—an idea of a promise that wasn’t with Nate. So, I would do this. I was going on some dates and maybe I’d findthe one. Or perhaps just get Nate out of my mind.

“Okay, so we have a list,” Dakota said.

“I might not be looking for forever,” I began and cut the others off before they could say anything. “You all got lucky. I understand that forever might not be for everyone. However, I do agree to this, so I’m in. Let the dating begin.”

And, once again, I ignored the slight twinge in my heart.

I had once thought I’d found my happily ever after, but it wasn’t meant to be.

I had learned the hard way, and that was fine. Because now I had a second chance. Maybe not at true happiness, but at least at contentment.

As I looked around at my friends, pure joy and satisfaction radiating off them, I knew I needed to findsomething. Because I had been alone for long enough.

And I was afraid if I didn’t take this chance, I would be forever.

Chapter 2

Nate

“You want me to what?”I asked, staring at my brother.

“I want you to go on a date,” Prior said, steepling his hands in front of himself.

“You aren’t Professor X. You don’t need to give me that look.”

Prior looked down at his hands and smirked. “I don’t know, I think Magneto does this more than Professor X. Or maybe that’s because Ian McKellen does it more than Patrick Stewart.”

“That’s true, we could watch the movies and decide. Of course, we may need to watch the cartoon from the nineties as well, to make sure. And I think I still have a few of my old comics. If not, we can go look them up. Did you know that they have digital comics now? And they work cool where they slide right across the page instead of like a normal book. It sort of goes from frame to frame.”

My brother’s eyes brightened. “Yes, that would be—wait... Did you just get me distracted that quickly with an X-Men reference?” Prior asked, and I did my best not to smile.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. This is legitimate research.”

---