Page 100 of Don't Go Faking My Heart

"You like him," Lou says.

"I know! I do. I'm obsessed with him. He's all I can think about. I was trying to make another reel—and you know how much I love making reels!—but I was useless. I couldn't stop thinking about that kiss."

"It was that good?"

Just thinking about it makes me feel like I've been dipped in hot oil.

"He kissed me the way a man kisses a woman, not a friend kisses another friend. It was the stuff of storybooks and YouTube channels dedicated to scorchingly hot first kiss scenes. We're talking Jess and Nick. Luke and Lorelai. Veronica and Logan. Heck, Jim and Pam! Every toe-curling, goosebump-raising, delicious first kiss in history."

Lou sighs. "I've never been kissed like that."

"You've never been kissed like anything."

Lou glares at me. "Not the point. The point is that you know how much I love being right about everything. I told you so."

"You told me nothing."

"I did too! At Sonny's nonna's wedding. I told you you'd either get it or you wouldn't. You got it."

"Is that what you guys were all talking about? Me and Rusty?"

"Yes! What did you think we were talking about?"

"His abs! Sonny was trying to convince me that Rusty's tummy waffles are better than his."

"And why would he do that?" Lou leads.

"Because Sonny is humble?"

"HA! All right, in a weird way, I guess he is. But no. Think about it. Why would Sonny and Millie and Jane and all of us talk about Rusty's tummy waffles?"

"Because … you guys wanted me to see Rusty as an object of desire?"

Lou snorts at my description. "Did it work?"

"Not because of his abs. I haven't even seen them yet! And we were in a hot tub together! Well, cold tub. Ice tub?"

"Ice bath."

"That."

"How did you end up in an ice bath with him and not see his abs?"

"I thought it was a hot tub and basically froze to death."

"It's May in the South, sugar."

"It's called hyperbole, Lou, and it's the best friend I've ever had in my entire life," I say. Lou laughs again.

"Okay, okay,” she says. “Rusty's hot, and you finally got it."

"Oh, I got it, all right. I got it bad." I flop backwards over the arm of my chair. "What if he doesn't feel the same way?"

"He does," Lou says, waving my concern away. "No question."

"Tiny question."

"Only because you, my sweet, sweet friend, are oblivious. He's been into you since y'all met."

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