Living Out Loud (Austen, #3)(45)

Sarah had the strangest look on her face and opened her mouth, as if to speak. But she closed it again and shook her head.

After a moment, she said, “You’ve got to get her away from him. What can you do?”

I had no answer for that. “I don’t know if there’s anything I can do, not now. He’s single-handedly wrecked every plan I had just by showing up at the right place at exactly the right time.”

Tim fumed. “You can’t give up, man. You can’t let that motherfucker win.”

“Hey, look at that—he speaks,” Dad joked, standing to make his way over to me. “He’s right, you know.”

I took a sip, avoiding answering.

“You shouldn’t let this girl go, not if you feel this strongly about her.”

I ran a hand over my face and took my seat at the table, sagging against the back of the chair. “I shouldn’t even want anything to do with her. She’s only eighteen.”

Tim made a face. “Bro.”

“I know, I know.” I waved a hand in his direction. “And she works at the bookstore. I’m not technically her boss, but it makes things a little…complicated. And all that is on top of the fact that I can’t even be sure she’s interested in me. I mean, she told me today that all her dreams were coming true, in part because of That Motherfucker. Like, what the hell was I supposed to say? And what am I supposed to do? Tell her I hate him? Tell her he’s an asshole? Warn her off and hope she doesn’t slam the door on me for being jealous?”

I ran a hand through my hair, plagued by the futility of it all.

“I want her to be happy. She deserves to be happy. She deserves someone who sees her,” I said half to myself. “Someone who appreciates the rareness of her—the righteous, uncorrupt girl who wants to live every breath like it’s her last. But I don’t believe That Motherfucker is going to honor her or cherish her. He’s just going to tarnish her shine.”

Sarah smiled, her face touched with emotion. “You should tell her that. I bet she’d dump him within three heartbeats of that speech.”

I huffed a humorless laugh and shook my head.

“Seriously, there has to be something you can do,” she said. “And if you can woo her yourself, then Will won’t be an issue. Take her back from him.”

When I didn’t say anything, she leaned in eagerly. “Come on, there has to be something. What does she like? What’s she interested in? Where can you take her?”

I thought for a second. “She’s got this list of things she’s never done, and I’ve been helping her cross stuff off of it. The other day, we were talking about a list of donut shops and I thought maybe I could take her to some.”

Sarah lit up. “Oh, wait! Hang on!”

She bounded out of the room while Dad, Tim, and I blinked at each other. When she trotted back in, it was with a little booklet titled NYC Donut Map. On opening it, we saw that it was a map of Manhattan with donut shops listed with a key full of details about the stores. I noted a couple, including a little shop called Lekker near the bookstore, and I wondered if we could go there during our break someday.

Sarah hung her hands on her hips, looking proud of herself. “Take that to her and ask her if she wants to go exploring with you. That’s one date.”

“Doesn’t she have to be into me for it to be considered a date?”

She shook her head. “Listen, you just need to keep being there. Be her friend. She’ll come around.”

Tim rolled his eyes. “Nobody makes it out of the friendzone, and you know it.”

Sarah glared at him. “First, don’t crush Greg’s spirit. Second, he’s only temporarily friendzoned. Right, Greg? You said you guys were vibing yesterday.”

Dad shook his head. “It’s almost like you’re speaking English. What the hell is vibing?”

“You know,” Sarah answered, “when you really like somebody and you feel that…zing. Like electricity. The attraction.”

“Ah,” he said with a nod. “I’m caught up. Continue.”

Tim and I chuckled.

“So, what else?” Sarah asked, her eyes sparkling with enthusiasm and purpose. “Do you think she might like the ballet? I mean, Rose got us tickets once. Do you think she’d do it again?”

Tim nodded. “Bitches love the ballet, man.”

I shook my head at him. “How the hell are you the one with the responsible, grown-up suit-and-tie job?”

He shrugged.

“Yeah,” I conceded. “Rose could probably get me tickets again, but I don’t know. The ballet? That’s like a fancy, serious date, isn’t it? I don’t want to scare her off. And if she’s with Will, I don’t know if she’ll even agree to go with me.”

“Play the friend card,” Tim encouraged.

“Oh, now being friendzoned is useful?”

“Look, I’m just saying, use every card you can. Throw the whole deck at her. Fifty-Two Card Pickup of the heart.”

Sarah nodded. “I’m with Tim. Take her to the ballet. You’ve got two shots to impress her, and I’m sure we can come up with more. Just start there, see how it goes.”

I thought on it and felt something more dangerous than anything—hope. “You know, it might work.”