Living Out Loud (Austen, #3)(52)

My smile wouldn’t quit. “Funny, that was the first thing I thought when I noticed it on the map.”

“Did you? Well, it must be fate. We’ve gotta start there.” Annie picked them both up, extending one to me. “Cheers!”

She tapped hers to mine, and we each took a bite.

It melted in my mouth, and a moan rumbled up my throat. “Oh God.”

Annie’s eyes closed. “Is this what heaven is like?”

“It has to be close.” I took another bite and shook my head. “I can’t believe you did this.”

“I really wanted to surprise you, and I felt like scum when I left here yesterday.”

Guilt washed over me. “I’m sorry, Annie. I should have texted you to make plans instead of showing up here and putting you on the spot.”

“Oh, it’s okay. Really. I’ve never had a social calendar before, so having overlapping plans is a new thing for me.” She beamed as she took a bite.

I grabbed a couple of glasses and set them on the bar, filling them with ice and water as I asked a question I didn’t want to know the answer to, “So, how’d it go yesterday?”

Annie was so happy, it looked like sunshine was shooting out of her eyeballs. “Oh, he took me on a picnic in the park. It was gorgeous; there was this big, pretty plaid and a basket and tiny cakes and everything, and he had all these fancy cheeses I’d never even heard of. And then he hired a carriage to drive us around the park. I crossed so many things off my list and went through two packs of film! Check it out.” She reached into her bag and rummaged.

I tried to smile, setting her glass in front of her. “Well, you named two firsts—picnic and carriage ride. What else?”

Her cheeks flushed prettily, and she smiled with her lips together, her eyes on her hands as she arranged tiny Polaroids on the bar next to the donut box. “First kiss, and he asked me to be his girlfriend, can you believe it?”

My heart seized painfully in my chest, and almost every muscle in my body involuntarily flinched.

My first thought: That Motherfucker.

And then: Going steady? What is he? In junior high?

With the grand finale of: I’m going to fucking kill him.

Annie finally looked up, her face shifting, watching me like I might erupt like a volcano. She wasn’t far off.

“I…I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I shouldn’t have brought it up. I know you don’t like him.”

“That’s a massive understatement, Annie.” The low rumbling in my throat was almost a growl.

“But tell me there’s a way for you to be civil. I don’t need for you to be friends, but you’re my friend, Greg. I don’t want to lose you because I’m with him. And I don’t want to lose him because I care about you. Please, don’t be mad.”

“I’m not mad at you,” I snapped. “It’s just that I…” Wish you were mine.

Confusion passed across her face, then some recognition, followed by a succession of stunned blinks. “Greg…do you…do you like me? Like, more than friends?”

If only I could tell her the truth. But nothing would come from that admission other than me losing Annie for good. And with her looking at me like she was, there was no way to dodge her. I had to answer, and it had to be clear.

So, I huffed with a shake of my head and lied to salvage whatever I could from the wreckage.

“Of course not, Annie. I’m just worried about you. I care about you.”

The relief on her face was accompanied by a hot twist of pain in my chest. “I care about you too, Greg. You’re my friend. And the thought of upsetting you upsets me.” She shook her head and glanced down at her hands.

I had no idea what to say.

In a handful of minutes, the game had changed on me once again, sparked by that word.

Boyfriend.

Which meant she considered herself his girlfriend.

Which meant she had made a commitment, one I couldn’t question. Because questioning that would put her in the most unfair of positions. I wouldn’t only be forcing her to make a decision that could jeopardize our friendship, but I’d be asking her to betray a promise she’d made to another man.

Will Fucking Bailey.

My anger fired up like a goddamn steam engine at the thought of him. I hated to lose her, but to lose her to someone like Will was unbearable. He’d taken her on an idyllic, cheeseball Hollywood date, and he’d kissed her—her first kiss. Of course he’d kissed her. I would have kissed her too, if I’d had a real chance.

But she didn’t want me.

She wanted him. She’d promised him. And there was nothing I could do about it.

So I reached into my back pocket and pulled out the ballet tickets, my plan singed to ashes under the smoldering remains of my hope.

“Annie, let me tell you something.” I waited until she looked up and met my eyes before continuing, “All I want is for you to be happy, and you are. I saw it on your face when you walked in, and I see it when you talk about him. And if you’re happy, I’m happy.” I handed the tickets over. “I have these tickets to the ballet…you should go with Will.”

Annie took the tickets with eyes as bright as Christmas morning, running the pad of her finger over the title. “Romeo and Juliet?”