Page 23 of Rumor Has It

“Of course he knows I’m a woman. But in the same way a man notices that his little sister is a woman.”

“I seriously don’t think Theo looks at you the same way he looks at Poppy, his actual little sister.”

I pick up a carrot stick and dip it into ranch, considering her statement for a moment. I’ll concede they have some merit, but I’m not totally convinced, and I haven’t decided whether or not I’m willing to make a fool of myself to find out.

“I’ve seen the way he looks at you,” she says. She brings the straw of her drink to her lips and takes a sip. “There’s something there. Everyone thinks so.”

“Everyone?” I repeat.

“Me. Garrett. Emma. Parker. Your parents. His parents.”

“Stop.” I cut her off before she can name anyone else.

“Wade,” she says.

“Okay, seriously.” I roll my eyes.

As if by divine intervention, Parker walks in.

“Hey, what’s up?” he says.

“We were just talking about you,” Kelly Ann says.

Parker pulls a water bottle from the fridge and sits down next to us. He graduated with us and now works as the gym teacher and baseball coach. He even helps run Little League in the summer.

“What about me?” he asks.

“Just that you know that special look Theo gives Ellie,” Kelly Ann says before I can stop her.

“Oh, yeah,” he says. “Definitely.”

I shove my face into my hands, exhausted with both of them. “You guys suck.”

There’s an eruption of laughter between them while I just sit and stare, waiting for it to be over. Then I decide a subject change will do the trick.

“Parker, are you finally going to make a move on Poppy when she moves back?” I ask.

Kelly Ann’s face goes from laughing to stunned to having its full attention fixed on Parker. After I’d told him what Theo told me, he’d been much more chipper around here.

In the same rumor mill you’ll find me and Theo, you’ll also find that everyone in this town knows Parker has been madly in love with Poppy since we were kids. We honestly all thought they’d end up together—until Poppy met Doug. He was new in town and they just sort of clicked. I’m sad to see that end. She deserves happiness.

“Jesus, Ellie,” he says. “I don’t know. It’s probably been too long.”

“Oh no,” Kelly Ann says, shaking her head. “No way, you have to.”

As the conversation officially turns to put him in the spotlight, I join in for two reasons. It keeps me out of their scopes, and I do truly think Parker should finally tell Poppy how he feels. But mostly it’s about me.

I don’t know what special look they think he’s giving me, but I doubt it’s one filled with lust or romantic thoughts. I’ve never gotten the impression I’m his type, but it’s also something we’ve never talked about. I mean, why would we? I think we’ve purposely avoided it, in fact. Literally no good can come from two friends discussing hypotheticals and attraction.

But now, I don’t think I can help myself. I even stooped so low as to dress a certain way this week. It wasn’t necessarily scandalous, but I might use the word provocative, even if it was low-key.

I’ve all but drowned out the conversation going on between Kelly Ann and Parker as my mind quietly constructs a plan for the evening. Theo is coming over after I drop off Wanda, and maybe it’s time to put the rumors to rest once and for all. Maybe it’s time to find out if there was ever really anything to talk about to begin with.

Do I know how to do that yet? No. How does one simply hit on their best friend without risking everything and making a fool of themselves? I’d hoped the robe would work its magic. It had never failed me before, but I knew those guys were interested in me. It didn’t have the same effect on Theo, which didn’t surprise me but still disappointed me.

Let’s be real for a moment. If literally all of our friends think we’ve hooked up, then he’s heard the rumors too. There’s no way none of these people have asked him about it. So both of us have to be purposely avoiding the topic. And maybe the best way to get the answers I want is to address it head-on with him. The moment I bring it up, he’s going to have a reaction. And it will either be genuine confusion like he has no clue what they’re talking about or why they’d say these things, or it’s going to be like mine will be—a mix of “maybe our friends are crazy” and also “but maybe they’re not.”

I’m getting hives just thinking about it. I should probably at least be dressed cute in case… fuck, in case of what? He isn’t on the same page? He is? That reasoning could go either way.

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