Page 26 of Unlikely You

Honey

AnnoyingBren was my new favorite thing. She’d get all growly and speechless and glare-y and it made her so hot that I couldn’t even swallow or feel my toes. The side effects were totally worth it.

I wasn’t going to try and give it to her today, though. Keeping her on her toes was more fun. She’d be vigilantly waiting for me to do something and I wasn’t going to do anything.

Ellie had been the one to suggest that I try and have her give Bren the money. Apparently she’d been watching our interactions and had worked out that something was up. I told her that I owed Bren and didn’t know how to get it back to her. She’d told me to give her twenty dollars and I had, curious to see what would happen. And then she marched right up to Bren and had attempted to give her the cash. I couldn’t help but stare as Ellie talked to Bren and Bren spoke back. The noise in the marketplace was too loud for me to hear exactly what they were saying, but Ellie had skipped back over with the twenty still in her hand.

“She wouldn’t take it,” she’d said, slapping the bill back into my hand and picking up the tray of honey sticks to hand out.

My sister was ridiculous, and Bren hadn’t been swayed by her adorableness, but that didn’t surprise me.

I’d get her in a way she wasn’t expecting. I just had to figure out what that way was first.

Your advice toleave the ball in the other person’s court was sound, but I’m ignoring it. Sorry not sorry.I sent to Biblio that afternoon.

You’re ignoring my advice? How dare you. I’m blocking you.I knew she wasn’t serious. She threatened to block me at least once a week usually.

I just think that my way is better.I responded.

You can’t see me but I’m rolling my eyes right now.

I wish I could see her. I wish I could know her face. Her eyes. Her smile. The ache that I’d developed along with my crush on her had gotten worse and worse over the past few weeks. Sometimes I wanted to beg her to show me even part of her face. Just a small section. A blurry shot of the back of her head. One of her toes, anything. The not knowing kept me up at night. Wondering about her shape, her dimensions. Her corners and curves and edges.

But I didn’t ask. I didn’t ask because I knew what she would say. That had been our deal right in the beginning. No details. I understood her reasons. They still hurt in ways that I hadn’t expected.

Let me know how your way turns out. But you’ll probably just lie and tell me it went well. I’d never know.

She would know because one thing I didn’t do with Biblio was lie to her. Ever. I might hold back, but I’d never lied to her from the beginning.

I’d never lie to you. You know all my most embarrassing favorite fanfics.

It was true. I’d shared the worst of the worst with her. The ones that I would rather throw myself into a hive of angry bees without a suit than ever admit to reading.

Mine are so much more embarrassing than yours, and you know that.

That was true. But then I’d read those fics and had been surprised by more than a few of them. You really could never tell where a story was going to go from your initial impression or the synopsis. One minute you were reading a story about two random cartoon characters that were in a few episodes of a kid’s show from fifteen years ago and the next minute you were crying at some of the most gorgeous prose you’d ever seen with your eyeballs.

I looked up from my phone and saw Bren throwing a glare at me.

You okay?I mouthed and that made her glare intensify before she looked away. This woman knew how to hold a grudge. She also looked so hot when she glared. Made me all tingly and hot and distracted.

“Honey?” Ellie asked.

“What?” My voice was so loud that a few people walking by turned around. “Sorry,” I said to no one in particular.

Bren Hendrix was messing with my brain and my ability to do my job.

“You were staring at Bren,” Ellie said, bouncing on her toes.

“No I wasn’t.”

Ellie just smirked at me. “Yes you were. She’s pretty.”

Bren wasn’tpretty. She was too much for such a flimsy word. She was gorgeous, she was devastating, she was overwhelming. Not pretty.

I made a noncommittal noise and turned my attention to asking passersby if they wanted tea. My parents were wandering around the marketplace far from the booth with honey samples, but I’d lost track of them. Who knew if they were going to get anyone to the table. Ember must have made up with at least one of her friends because she’d gone off to meet someone at the pier for a few hours. Hopefully they had smoothed things over for now and Ember wouldn’t come back upset or crying.

The energy was high, but I couldn’t stop glancing over to watch Bren at work.

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