Page 57 of The Wrong Date Deal

August sucked in a sharp breath. “Right. Well. Uh. My place is closer.”

Piper fought against the twisting in her stomach. August was her friend. She’d talked at length with Massima about how it wasn’t weird that they spent time together. But it was hard to deny the spark with the way August spoke and the way she’d sucked in that breath.

Piper had spent so much time trying to tell herself that it was just Massima and Hermes messing with her head, but… what if it wasn’t? What if she happened to be the problem?

She’d been happy when she thought August was her date. They’d fallen quickly into a rhythm with each other, she’d been flirty, she’d thought August was attractive. And then she’d put that all away because August wasn’t her date. She’d pulled away from all of that so that they could be friends. But…

She shook her head. “You don’t mind dancing in front of Ford, then?”

August laughed. “He’s not there tonight.”

“Oh? He’s doing okay?”

“Eh. He insisted on going home for the night. The pressure is off for the time being, but, as far as I can tell, they’re still treating him like a personal chef.”

Piper winced. “I’m sorry. You know, you should bring him along on Friday.”

“When I meet your friends?”

“Yeah. Have him meet Hermes, maybe start that ball rolling?”

August sighed, sagging slightly. “I still don’t know if he’s there. He says he wants to stick it out.”

Without really thinking about it, Piper reached out to caress August’s arm. “Well, even if he isn’t, at least they’d know each other if the time did come.”

“Yeah. Maybe you’re right.” She chewed her lip before downing some of her drink a little too quickly. “I don’t get it, but he has to make his own decisions.”

The weight of everything she carried was clear to see. It broke Piper’s heart, and she could only imagine what it was doing to August.

Piper moved her hand down until she was squeezing August’s fingers. “He knows you’re there for him and that you care. That’s the best thing you can do. And it’s the only thing you can do.”

“I guess. I just… it’s not like he can go to our parents, what with… everything.”

“I know he appreciates you being there for him. But he is also an adult, and it’s not your responsibility to be his parent,” Piper pointed out gently.

August nodded. “I know. I just… feel so unbelievably guilty. They supported me through college and, just because he’s doing things a little differently, they’re… Well, you know.”

“The problem is them. Not you.”

“You think?”

Piper nodded. “Definitely.”

August bobbed her head, moving her gaze to the place where Piper’s hand rested on top of her own. Piper’s heart pounded and nothing about it felt particularly platonic.

It would be just her luck to develop a crush on the friend she’d made while trying to date other people.

Her mind felt oddly bare as she watched August staring at their connected hands. Somewhere deep inside, she knew she was being weird about it, but her brain felt like a weird game ofPongwhere the question of whether or not she should pull her hand back bounced from side to side in an otherwise empty space. It was one of the weirder sensations she’d ever experienced and she couldn’t honestly say it felt bad—though, she couldn’t honestly say anything at all, lost as she was in the whole thing.

Eventually, August sucked in a breath, looked up, and twisted her hand so she could briefly squeeze Piper’s in return. “Thank you,” she breathed, and Piper was certain she wasn’t imagining the loaded, intimate tone in her voice.

They both cleared their throats at the same time and pulled their hands back, and Piper almost laughed at how very implicating that was. However, she had no interest in ruining the friendship they’d been building, so she left it hanging there. August was having a rough night and had spent so long carrying the weight of her parents’ shit treatment of Ford that it was highly possible she was just emotional and Piper happened to be there.

August stood up. “Come on, let’s get out of here before they’re closing up around us.”

Piper breathed a laugh, glancing around the place. There were still two other patrons in the café but things were definitely winding down for the night.

They walked back to August’s with a confusingly comfortable and electric silence between them—at least from Piper’s side. Her brain couldn’t comprehend that August might be feeling like something was different between them tonighttoo, but she didn’t know how else she’d explain the silence and the energy between them.

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