Page 18 of Stone Promises

“Nope.” He narrows his eyes at me in thought. “Did you tell him about us?”

“I didn’t tell him, but he guessed,” I say.

“Did you tell him why we broke up?” he asks, looking guilty.

“I didn’t think it was any of his business.”

“Good. It’s not. None of it is. He lost his right to our business when he became the dick that he is.”

“He was actually pretty nice, Julian.” He looks at me like he’s going to spit out hateful words, so I put up my hand to stop him. “We’re not BFFs again or anything, so don’t get your panties in a wad. I just think maybe you should give him a chance.”

“Is that what you’re doing, giving him a chance?”

I’m not sure why Julian is so upset about this. I mean, he stayed friends with Chad far longer than I did. “I didn’t say that. After all, I turned down his invite to dinner so I could be here with you.”

He looks slightly placated. “You did?” he asks, smiling.

“Yes, so eat up before it gets cold.” I take a drink of my wine and start on my second piece of pie.

“He won’t call me, you know,” he says, with his mouth half full.

“Why not?”

An expression of extreme satisfaction crosses his face. “Because I dated you and he didn’t.”

I laugh. “Is this about that silly pact you guys made?”

“You knew about that?” he asks with wide eyes.

“Not until last night.” I lean over and swat his arm. “You never told me you both had a crush on me.”

“Would it have made a difference?” he asks.

I chew my food, thinking about it for a minute. “I guess not. I mean, we had a good thing going and two of us hooking up would have ruined that.”

“Exactly,” he says. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried to get into your pants now. You know, just to one-up me.”

“One-upyou?” I ask.

“It’s what guys do,” he says, washing his bite down with wine. “Especially arrogant movie stars who are jealous of childhood friends.”

I roll my eyes at him.

“We fought over you back then,” he says. “Even when we were in middle school. I’m just not sure we ever realized why we were doing it.”

“You did?”

He nods. “Remember the one Halloween when you wanted to be Beauty?”

“Belle,” I say, smiling at the memory. “I loved that costume. I was ten and I wanted you guys to dress up as characters from the movie.”

“That’s right. Well, we both wanted to be the Beast. Chad said he should get to do it because he was bigger than me. I told him that because I had dark hair, it should be me. His mom walked in and found us fighting about it. She called my mom and together, they conspired to make us outfits that would go with yours.”

“So that’s how you ended up as the teacup, Chip,” she says.

“Yup, I was the stupid little teacup and Chad was that geeky candlestick dude. It was humiliating.”

“Lumiere,” I say, remembering it fondly.

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