Page 28 of Aria

"Oh my God… Lisa." Chelsie jumped to her feet and raced over to the front door. “I completely forgot about our lunch date.”

“I need to get going, myself.” Standing from the couch, I followed her lead before halting in my tracks when Chelsie whipped around to face me. Her eyes were sparkling with genuine candor.

“Thank you,” she said. “Really.”

My heart stuttered. I was about to reply, but the knocking persisted.

"I'm coming!" Chelsie shouted, running the rest of the way to greet her friend in the doorway. "Sorry, Lisa, I lost track of time. Noah was just leaving."

Lisa had a perplexed look on her face as she glanced over at me, so I offered a wave.

"Uh, hey.” Lisa looked back and forth between Chelsie and me. "Am I interrupting something? Should we reschedule?"

I cleared my throat. "Like she said, I was on my way out. It's nice to see you, though."

"I'm a hot mess, Lis.” Chelsie looked frazzled. “Let me freshen up. Ten minutes?”

"Of course," Lisa nodded. As I brushed past her to walk out the door, she placed a firm hand on my arm. Her voice turned low and ominous as she told me, “Don't go there.”

My jaw tensed at the warning. I had to suppress my man-pride from saying something scathing. I pulled my arm back, deciding to play dumb. "I’m not following."

“Please, just leave it alone. She’s been through a lot."

I was aware of the “Best Friend's Duty”—it was an unsaid rule to protect said best friend from the scum of the Earth at all costs. Therefore, I forgave Lisa’s assumption that I was on a mission to get into Chelsie’s pants and break her heart. She had every right to jump to conclusions, considering I hadn’t been on my best behavior.

Shoving my defenses aside, I shook my head. "It's not what it looks like,” I forced a smile. Issuing Lisa a friendly salute, I stepped past her and out into the hallway before heading outside to my car.

I needed to clear my head because I, too, had a date that afternoon.

CHAPTEREIGHT

CHELSIE

It was Friday night, and a week had passed since my mortification occurred in the presence of Devon Sawyer.

Again.

It had been almost a week with no contact.No follow-up phone call begging for a coffee date.No text message forgiving me for making a giant ass out of myself.

Nothing.

It was a tough truth to swallow: I had epically blundered any chance I may have had with the famous musician.And now, I was drowning my sorrows in a fruity cocktail with Julia and Lisa.

"You know," Julia began, taking a sip of her giant frozen daiquiri. "You can always contact Devon yourself, Chelsie. You did immediately save his number to your phone, right?"

"Yes, Julia.I'm not a complete idiot," I replied… though, I didn’t entirely believe that statement. "I just don't feel comfortable bugging him. I feel like he would contact me if he really wanted to."

"True," Julia shrugged.

My shoulders sagged with defeat. “I'm doomed.”

"Don't be such a Debbie-downer," Julia said. "You'll find the right guy. No one nearly as good-looking or successful, but somebody will come along."

Lisa rolled her eyes. "Really not helping, Jules." She turned to me then. "Hey, do you want to get out of here? Depression and alcohol rarely lead to good things."

I shook my head. "Thanks, but I’m okay. I just need to forget about Devon and enjoy myself. I've been harboring guilt and self-loathing all week. I have to move on from this." My cell phone buzzed as I brought the little plastic straw to my lips. Glancing at it, I did a double-take—then a triple-take. Just to make sure. "Um, guys… ?" I trailed off.

"What?" both girls asked in unison.

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