Page 123 of Forever Yours

“Tonight?”

“Our date.”

I totally forgot we were going out to dinner and a movie.

“Do you mind if I take a rain check? I just want to spend the day with Liz… if that’s alright with you.”

I cringed when I asked it.

“Should I be jealous?”

His chuckle was stilted, and it made me feel like shit that I was blowing him off. But I was stuck between a rock and a hard place between my boyfriend, who I promised I’d always put first, and my best friend, who I hadn’t seen in over a year.

It hit me last night just how much I missed her. The endless months of depression and agony I’d suffered because she was gone. I didn’t want to miss another second with her ever again.

I wanted to bridge that awkward gap we all felt with her, caused by what happened to her and too much time apart. It wasn’t going to be easy. We weren’t going to have the carefree existence and easy friendship we used to share. Liz had changed. She was more wary. Mistrusting. Not sure of me and the guys. But we’d get there. We would put in the hard work to get us back to the way things used to be.

“I’ll call you later?”

Silence, then, “Sure. Say hi to Liz for me.”

“I will. I love—”

The line went dead.

Goddammit.

I knew what he was thinking.

With my mind a whirl of jumbled thoughts, I went back to finishing lunch. Just as I opened the jar of pesto, the doorbell sounded.

A million butterflies emerged from their chrysalises inside my stomach and flapped their wings. I was nervous as hell to see her again. Even more nervous that it would only be the two of us.

Taking a hand towel with me to wipe my hands, I opened the door.

And there she fucking was.

Liz had braided her long, pink-tinted hair into two pigtails that hung down past her shoulders. Her face glowed like she’d been out in the sun all day.

All my worries dissipated when she smiled at me. Liz was back. We had our girl back.

“Hi.”

That one word burst out of me like apiñata full of excited confetti.

She held up a pink box that smelled like vanilla.

“Hope you don’t mind that I brought dessert. I found this local bakery that does allergen-free desserts.”

Her smile grew as I continued to stare at her, completely entranced. She was really back. Not a figment of my imagination.

“It may taste like shit,” she said when I didn’t reply.

I blinked, reading her lips because I couldn’t hear anything over the pounding of my heart.

“Um, Julien?”

“Shit, sorry. Please come in. I was just finishing making lunch.”

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