Page 66 of Best Friends for Never

We work silently for the next thirty minutes, picking up trash, taking down decorations, and moving tables back to where they belong while soft music plays in the background. I don’t know where it’s coming from, but I’ve never been more grateful for it. It’s keeping me distracted from all the naughty thoughts running through my mind, like what would Noel do if I just walked right over and kissed him? Or shoved him into one of the chairs and crawled onto his lap? If I dropped the straps on my dress and shimmied out of it? Would he kiss me back? Would he ravage me the way I want him to?

The soft music that’s been playing in the background comes to a natural stop, and it’s our cue to wrap up the cleaning and get going for the night.

Noel saunters over to me, somehow making carrying a trash bag look like he’s on a red carpet.

“So, Peter.”

I don’t even bother trying to hide my grin. “So, Noel.”

“Do you have any plans tomorrow?”

“I was going to give my cat a bath, but that’s about it.”

“Your ...” He shakes his head. “I’m sorry. Did you say you were going to give yourcata bath?”

I lift a shoulder. “Pumpkin’s weird. He loves baths and hates normal cat things. Well, except for destroying any- and everything I leave on my countertops or mantel. He loves doing that far too often. He’s weird.”

“Sounds like it,” he says. “So, cat bath but nothing else?”

“If you’re asking to take me out, I suppose I could postpone Pumpkin’s bath. He won’t be happy about it, but you can explain that to him.”

Noel presses his lips together, smothering a laugh. “I’ll see if I can muster enough courage to break the news to him.”

“Does that mean you’re asking me out?”

“Yes, Parker, I’m asking you out.”

“Where?”

“Pardon?”

“Where do you want to take me?” I ask him.

He laughs lightly, running his hand through his hair in that same nervous habit he’s always had. “I, uh, hadn’t really thought that far ahead.”

“Not the city, please. I don’t think I can handle that.”

“No city, I promise. What about Rockaway Falls? I haven’t been there in ... Fuck, I don’t even know how long it’s been.”

I do. We went for my eighteenth birthday and swam at the waterfall’s base. It was cold because it was March, but we didn’t care. We had fun and spent the whole day out there shivering our butts off, then ended up being late for curfew. My mother gave me concerned looks the rest of the week, and I know now it’s because she was worried we were out there fooling around.

We were, but not in the way she thinks.

We weren’t having sex. We were busy being young and free and having far too much fun for two people with no idea what heartbreak was ahead.

Oh, to be that naive again.

“Rockaway Falls sounds nice. The tourists haven’t started coming in for the season yet, so it shouldn’t be too crowded. I can pack a ...” My words teeter as Noel begins shaking his head.

“Nope. You pack nothing. I’m takingyouout on a date. I’ll take of everything. I just need you ready to be picked up by eleven.”

“Oh, thank gosh. Because I really wasn’t planning on getting up any earlier than nine. I need sleep after tonight.”

“Why? Someone wear you out?”

One side of his mouth hitches up in a proud grin, and images of us in the stairwell flash through my mind.

Did someone turn off the AC before they left? Why is it suddenly so hot in here?

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