Page 33 of Bleeding Hearts

“While you fawn over the roommate, I’m gonna grab a drink. Either of you want anything?” I ask, standing from the booth.

“Another vodka cran, please.” Theo holds up his nearly empty glass.

“Anything for you, cuddle cakes?” I look to Demi.

“Just the deletion of that nickname from your vocabulary, please,” she says sweetly with a smile on her face.

I laugh at her as I walk away and toward the crowded bar. It’s not too packed today since it’s a Tuesday, but it seems like no matter what the day is, Carl’s still garners some sort of a crowd.

It’s mostly regulars here, never too many new people and the vibe is always casual. It’s one of the things that makes it so appealing.

“Hey, Asher.” Angie, the bartender working tonight, smiles at me. She just started here a few months ago and is one of my favorites.

She's tall and curvy with tanned skin and rich-brown eyes. She’s got dark curls and heart-shaped lips that are always covered in some sort of red gloss. Basically, she’s a smokeshow.

The first time I met her, she was working behind the bar, and naturally, I hit on her. She just started laughing at me while I stared at her, confused.

She then introduced me to the tiny woman sitting on the barstool next to me, Isabella. She had her head shoved in a book and also happened to be her girlfriend.

Isabella was too enamored with her book to pay any attention to our conversation, but after introducing myself and explaining what had just happened, she proceeded to also laugh at me.

I’ve been friends with the two of them since. Isabella isn’t here every night Angie’s working like she was in the beginning, but she still shows up when she can. The two of them are fun to hang out with and are just genuinely nice people.

The only thing not fun about them is the unsolicited advice they constantly give me about my dating life.

“With Demi tonight?” She smiles, looking over to our booth.

I was one of Angie’s first friends here, but that doesn’t mean she has any loyalty to me. Ever since I introduced her to Demi, it’s been very clear that she’s her favorite out of the two of us.

She’s also obsessed with the idea of Demi and me together, even though I’ve told her a million times to leave the subject alone.

Although, I have to admit that every day that passes, I start to wonder if staying away from Demi really is the best thing.

Months ago, I could’ve justified it easily. The thought of a relationship was the furthest thing from my mind.

But now, there are moments when she’s laughing and my chest feels like it could explode when I wonder what it would be like to be more. And just for a few moments, I let myself imagine it, feel it, want it before I shove it all back down.

“Hey, Ang. Yeah, I just ran into Demi and Theo,” I say.

It’s not a total lie. I did run into them. I just meant for it to happen.

“And how’s the whole ‘just friends’ thing going with the two of you?” She raises a brow at me.

“It’s going great. We’re still good friends, thanks for asking.” I give her a knowing smile.

“Ugh.” She huffs. “The two of you are so frustrating. It’s so obvious the two of you are meant to be together. You’re just wasting your time with this friend’s crap.”

That’s the other thing about Angie. She’s a total hopeless romantic. I mean, the girl quotes rom-coms for fun. She’s had her mind set that Demi and I are meant to be from the first time she saw us together and she doesn’t hesitate to tell both of us that.

In fact, we’ve had multiple people tell us that since we became closer, but we’ve gotten pretty good at ignoring it.

The one thing I know for sure is that if something more ever did happen between Demi and me, it would be on our own terms, not on anyone else’s.

“How’s Isabella doing?” I change the topic of conversation, and Angie’s face lights up, thoroughly distracted.

“She’s perfect.” She sighs. “She just got accepted into the PhD program at the University of Washington. The next night I have off work, I swear I’m taking her out to the fanciest dinner I can afford to celebrate her.”

Angie gets a certain look in her eye when she talks about Isabella. It’s the human equivalent of the heart eyes emoji. It’s like you can actually see the overwhelming love she feels for her in her eyes. It’s the same look I see in Kade’s eyes when he talks about Lo and vice versa.

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