Page 133 of Fake Dating My Best Friend

Isla & Asher’s Love Bucket List

I swallow hard. Somehow, just seeing our names together like that makes my chest feel too full and too soft at the same time.

“I believe we have some unfinished business.” Asher lifts the paper. “Let’s see . . . Number one: Raise a puppy and name him/her together.”

A familiar bark sounds from behind a nearby tree. Mochi bounds toward us, sporting a tiny bow tie that somehow makes him look both ridiculous and adorable.

“Check,” Asher says, grinning that dimpled smile that still makes my heart do flip-flops. “Number two: Dance under the stars. Did that.”

“Have you been working through my Love Bucket List on purpose? All this time?” I brush my thumb over the little dip in his cheek.

“From the moment I found it, I decided then that I’d give you everything on this list. You deserve someone who puts your dreams first.”

“You sneaky, wonderful man,” I blink back tears.

“But there’s one we haven’t done yet.” He sets the paper down gently. “Before we get to that, I want to add one of my own.”

He locks eyes with me. Lowers to one knee.

My breath catches mid-inhale. The sound of the lake, the distant hum of insects, even the faint rustle of lanterns swaying in the trees—all of it fades. My vision narrows until it’s only him, right there in front of me.

“Isla Ennis,” he says, his voice steady, but his throat moves like he’s swallowing something thick. “Loving you has been the easiest, most natural thing I’ve ever done. Even when we were just friends, even when I wasn’t sure you’d ever see me as more, loving you felt like breathing. Necessary.”

He pulls a velvet box from his pocket, opening it to reveal a ring with a perfect mint-colored stone that catches the lantern light.

Tears spill down my cheeks, hot and unstoppable. I don’t even try to wipe them away.

“I want to be the one waking up next to you every morning,” Asher says, his voice getting rougher. “I want to be the one who brings you tea when you’re stressed about work. I want the kids, the dogs—preferably three—the laundry, the mess. All of it. With you.”

“I never told you that dream from months ago . . .” I cover my mouth.

“You said it in your sleep.”

“Oh . . .”

“I didn’t know when you moved in next door that I was going to fall for you. I didn’t know if I’d be lucky enough to have forever with you when we first signed that silly friendship pact. And I don’t know how many times I’ve dreamed of kissing you like you were already mine. But I do know this—loving you has been my constant for so long, I’ve forgotten what it ever felt like not to.”

“Why didn’t I go with waterproof today?” I swipe under my eyes as more tears spill.

Asher’s smile curves softly. “Isla Ennis, love of my life, will you marry me?”

“Yes,” I nod, barely able to form a word. “Yes! Of course, yes!”

The night sky erupts with fireworks, blooming against the darkness like electric flowers.

But I barely get a chance to watch them. Asher slips the ring onto my finger and kisses me. Slow, certain, and utterly consuming. Like every spark in the sky just detoured to set my heart on fire.

“Kiss under fireworks,” Asher murmurs against my lips, pulling me close as another burst of fireworks lights the sky. “Checked off the last item on your list.”

The moment doesn’t feel like a beginning or an end. It feels like finding the place I've been searching for all along. The arms that held me through heartbreak. The laugh that always found me when I forgot how to smile.

For so long, I believed my own romantic relationships were destined to fade. Friendship was the only thing that would last, so long as I didn’t mess it up by catching feelings.

But it wasn’t until I finally got brave enough to stop fighting what my heart had been wanting all along that I realized something else.

The best kind of romance happens right in the middle of the friend zone.

It's the kind that grew quietly, constantly, like Asher's family peach tree spreading its branches wider with each summer—until one day, forever was the only thing that made sense.

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