Page 48 of Best Friends for Never

He completely ignores Noel, who is still lingering, then takes off toward the park in the town center.

That leaves me and Noel.

“Where’s Gran?” I ask him.

“She’s walking back with friends. She was getting tired and insisted I stay out so she could nap in peace. Guess she’s flashing back to ourteen years when we’d play video games entirely too loudly and annoy her to no end.”

“Youwere the loud one.”

“Yeah, becauseyoualways cheated.”

“Did not,” I insist.

“Did too. Why else did I always call you Cheater Peter?”

I glare at him, but he smirks.

Silence settles between us, and it’s awkward, something that’s never happened with us before. I hate it.

“So ...,” I say because I don’t know what elsetosay.

“Yes, Peter?” His smirk is still in place.

I blow out a breath. “You didn’t have to do that, you know? Step in and help. And you really didn’t have to say you’d stay and help. I’m sure you’ve got plenty of ... well, whatever you do back in LA. Movies and stuff.”

He shrugs like it’s no big deal when we both know it is. “I know. I wanted to.”

“You wanted to raffle yourself off for a date night?”

“Well, no.Thatwas your doing, remember?”

I wring my hands together and grimace. “I’m sorry. I sort of panicked.”

“No shit.” He laughs. “I guess I kind of deserved it after what I said.”

I stiffen at the mention of the words he uttered to me before I took the microphone.

Unlike some people, I keep my promises.

In all fairness, he was right. I didn’t keep my promise, and I’ve had to live with the repercussions for the last decade.

“I’m sorry. It was uncalled for.”

“It’s okay,” I tell him.

“It’s not. We said we were going to put all that behind us, and I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

“No, maybe not, but it was still true.” I clear my throat. “Anyway, you don’t have to do the auction. We’ll figure something else out.”

He shoves his hands into his pockets. “I’ll do it.”

“You will?”

“Yeah. I mean, I’m going to complain about it, but I’ll do it.”

I smile. He has that effect on me. One minute, I’m upset with him for calling me out, and the next, I’m smiling and laughing at his jokes. It’s always been that way with us.

“I expect nothing less.”

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