Page 38 of The Fangirl and the Crooner

What if we dive headlong into a relationship, and it doesn’t work out? Would I lose his friendship, completely?

Probably.

It would definitely make things awkward, considering how tightly knit our friend group is. We’d be around each other all the time, because I know neither one of us would ever expect our friends to choose between us. That would be awful for them, and we both love them too much to expect them to pick sides. No,we’d just have to deal with and tolerate the situation as best we could.

But isn’t being with Bram worth that risk?

Sex has never felt so amazing with anyone else.Ever.

I’m completely self-aware that up until recently, I was one-hundred-percent a card-carrying people pleaser. And that personality trait included what happened in the bedroom. I’ve always been so intent on making sure my partners found as much pleasure as possible, I oftentimes neglected to make suretheypleasedmejust as well. I was just happy to make them happy, and subconsciously decided that was enough.

But Bram? He was intent on making sure I came on his mouth this morning, and he didn’t expect anything in return. And when we had sex, he was perfectly in tune with my every need and desire, which in turn, brought his own pleasure.

That’s rare, at least in my experience. And no matter how much I covet our friendship and don’t want to risk ruining it, I’m not ready to give up the rest. I don’t know if I’ll ever be.

The bells over the door jingle as I walk into Willow’s shop, and she looks up with a smile to greet me. Before she gets a single word out, though, her smile drops and her eyes flare wide. She calls out to a barista that she’s going on break and he should make two mochas and deliver them to us. Then she points to a table in the back and heads in that direction, fully expecting me to follow.

“What’s happening?” I ask as I slide into the chair across from her, noticing we’re far from her other customers where no nosy ears can eavesdrop.

“Don’t play dumb with me, missy. Spill,” she says, narrowing her gaze at me.

“Spill what?” I ask, teasing her with an innocent look.

She obviously knows something’s happened, though I have no idea how she knows. She clears up the mystery with her next words.

“Please,” she growls. “You’ve got that thoroughly fucked glow all over you. Now stop stalling and tell me everything.”

The barista arrives with our coffees, and heat burns my cheeks at the thought that he may have heard Willow’s words. He doesn’t reveal a thing, though, setting the mochas down and disappearing without so much as a knowing look in my direction.

Once we’re alone again, I slowly tell Willow everything that happened this morning. Well, maybe noteverything, but she gets the gist of it. When I finish telling her about our little conversation a few minutes ago, she cheers and pulls her phone from her pocket.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“I’ve got to text Keegan,” she says, then her eyebrows draw low. “Oh, it looks like I missed a text from her. She already knows.”

“What?” I chirp, and she turns the phone around so I can see the message.

Keegan:Oh, my God! Press and Bram finally hooked up! We need to plan a girls’ night to get all the dirty details.

My eyes lift from her phone screen to her face as I shake my head. “I didn’t tell her.”

Turning her screen back toward her, Willow initiatesa video call with Keegan, who answers immediately. I scoot my chair around the table so Willow and I can both be in the frame, neither of us getting a word in edgewise while Keegan speaks rapidly.

“Oh, my God. You’re there! Tell me everything. Right now. I can’t wait.”

“How did you find out?” I ask.

“Trace told me,” she says. “I guess he and Gavin went to the tavern, and it was all over Bram’s face. Trace said he couldn’t stop smiling. Now, I need details, Pressley. Talk.”

“Well,” I say, organizing my thoughts, “we’ve been getting along really well lately.”

“I’ll say,” Keegan interjects in a knowing tone.

“Do you want to hear this, or not?” I ask, and she mimes zipping her lips and throwing away the key.

“Bram’s been wonderful, forgiving me and working to repair our friendship. I woke up with a massive hangover this morning, and he really took care of me. I was pretty jumpy after I remembered what I said last night while I was drunk––”

“That part where you asked him to take you to his bed?” Keegan cuts in, then mimes zipping her lips once more when I frown.

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