The Rules of Dating My Best Friend's Sister(110)

Fuck. Here it comes. I swallowed and nodded. “Of course. We go way back, Mrs. E. Say whatever is on your mind.”

“Thank you, Holden.” She cleared her throat. “I’m not usually one to meddle. But I know you have feelings for my daughter. And I also know how close you and my son were.”

I looked down, ashamed. “I’m really sorry, Mrs. E. I know Ryan would want to kill me if he was here. And I also know I’m not a parent’s ideal pick as boyfriend material.” I shook my head. “I didn’t mean for it to happen. I swear, I didn’t.”

Mrs. E reached across the table and patted my hand. “I want to tell you a story. I’m not sure if you’ll remember this or not, but about a week before Ryan died, he started sleeping on the couch downstairs. He was too weak to go up to his room.”

My heart felt heavy as I nodded. “I remember.”

“Well, this one day in particular, you were over, and Ryan had fallen asleep on the couch. Laney was outside raking the leaves on the front lawn, and you went out to help her. At least that’s what you said you were going to do.” Mrs. E smiled fondly. “But when you got out there, you scooped up a big bunch of leaves and threw them at Laney. The two of you had a leaf fight on the lawn. You chased each other around for the better part of an hour, laughing nonstop like two schoolkids.”

I smiled. “I remember that day.”

“What I don’t think you know is that Ryan woke up in the middle of the leaf fight. He was thirsty and went into the kitchen. I’d been folding laundry in the other room, and I came in to find him watching you and Laney through the window.” She turned to stare out Laney’s kitchen window and covered her heart with her hand. “The smile on his face as he watched was as big as the ones you two wore. And you know what he said?”

“What?”

She turned back to look at me. “He said you two had had it bad for each other for years.”

My jaw dropped. “He knew?”

She nodded. “He told me you weren’t right for his sister.”

I frowned.

“But then he said he hoped one day you’d find the girl who’d change you, and he hoped that girl was Laney.”

Tears filled my eyes. “Really?”

“Really.” She held up a finger and laughed. “Well, full disclosure, after he said that, he also told me that if you didn’t change and went after his little sister, I was supposed to have my husband kick your ass.”

I smiled. “That sounds more like Ryan.”

Mrs. E squeezed my hand. “Only you know if you’ve changed to become the man we both know Laney needs. But I thought it was important that you know Ryan believed you had it in you.” She paused. “And so do I, Holden.”

My eyes met hers. “Really?”

She nodded. “Really.”

***

Whatever hope I’d left with after talking with Mrs. Ellison had long faded by the next day. Lala had texted when she’d gotten home last night. Her mom had told her I was in town and had stopped over, but she said she was too tired for me to come back by. And this morning, she’d told me she had to go into work. She was supposed to have texted me when she was done, but checking my phone a hundred times did nothing to make her message arrive. Still, I clung to the hope that she’d just been really busy and would show up for our gig. But she never did.

By the end of our show, I was miserable and wanted nothing more than to go home. So when Monroe announced that we had a new song to play for everyone—the song I’d written about Lala—I was in no mood and shook my head.

“Not tonight, buddy.”

He waved me toward the front of the stage anyway, as he spoke into the microphone. “I think our drummer is being uncharacteristically shy and needs some encouragement. What do you say, everyone? Can you make some noise if you want to hear a brand new song that has never been played to a crowd before? If you’d like our resident stud-muffin drummer to come up and sing for you all?”

The crowd clapped and yelled. Meanwhile, I wanted to punch Monroe in the face. But there was a reason he was the front man for After Friday. He was a relentless showboat and kept egging people on to get me up there. When he had them all chanting Hold-en, Hold-en, I knew I had no choice but to get up from my seat. I’d wanted Lala to be the first person to hear me sing the song besides the band, but it kind of felt like that was never going to happen anyway. So when the music started, I closed my eyes and poured my heart into singing every word I’d written. I didn’t even realize tears were streaming down my face until I was done and opened my eyes—and saw Lala standing near the back door with matching tears on her cheeks. I blinked a few times, making sure I wasn’t seeing things. But sure enough, she was there.

I shoved the mic at my bass player, oblivious to the crowd giving me a standing ovation, and took off from the stage. “Take a set break. I’ll be back.”

I couldn’t get to her fast enough. Pushing through the crowd, I ignored people congratulating me and gushing with compliments. Nothing mattered except for Lala.

When I finally reached her, I cupped her cheeks in my hands. “I didn’t think you were here.”

She sniffled. “I wasn’t going to come. I’m sorry, Holden. I’m so sorry.”

I swallowed. It hurt like hell, but it was more important to me that she wasn’t upset. So I wiped her cheeks with my thumbs. “It’s fine. I understand. We can be friends, sweetheart. We can keep in touch. Don’t cry. Don’t be upset.”