Page 37 of Poinsettia Lane

Rolling their eyes, Frankie admonishes her. “You know that’s the anxiety talking. No one is perfect, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t good for you. I mean that’s why you’re going on a date, right? To get to know each other better. See if it’s a good fit.”

“I wonder what he has planned," she murmurs to herself, imagining all the possibilities.

Maybe he’ll take her to her favorite Vietnamese restaurant and they can share a plate of spring rolls while their knees touch under the table. Maybe a cute picnic along the river with the sun warming their faces, or a concert in the city. He’ll have put together the perfect playlist for the drive there and back. Maybe he’s planning a nighttime stroll under the stars, holding hands, kissing… She doesn’t realize she sighs breathily at that thought until Frankie’s cackle cracks through her musings and her eyes fly open.

“Oh my god.” Frankie has their head thrown back and even goes so far as to slap their hand on their knee. “You have it bad. Where did you just go in your head?! Because from your face and the noises you just made, it must have been fantastic.”

“I was thinking about what he might be planning," she says, and takes a sip of tea to help hide her face from her friend.

“With his dick?” Frankie asks.

Everly spews tea across the table, much to Frankie’s delight.

“No! Geez Frankie, I can’t believe you.” Everly snatches a napkin from the next table over to mop up themess, patting off her mouth and lips as well as the tabletop. Thankfully it was a small sip, and she hasn’t gotten any on her dress. “You are the absolute worst sometimes, you know that?”

Her words and tone are grumbling, but she’s smiling anyways. They both know it’s not true.

Frankie grins. “You might not have been then, but I bet you are now.”

“I’m leaving.” Everly playfully wrinkles her nose at her friend and crumples the napkin in her fist as she scoots her chair back, wooden legs scraping across the floor. Before she can even stand though, Frankie stops her with a hand on her arm.

“Okay, drama queen. I’m done, I’m done.” They hold their hands up in surrender. “I’ll stop, for real. I’m truly happy for you Everly, you deserve someone who appreciates you.”

Everly leans back in her seat, tossing the napkin onto the table and accepting Frankie’s words at face value. They might tease her relentlessly at times, but they also respect her boundaries and Frankie is honest to a fault. They turn the conversation to Frankie’s business challenges, the ongoing drama with the grocery store guy, then to Everly’s latest therapy project, that of being true to herself. Everly shares how much easier it is to be herself around Asim compared to anyone else, apart from them of course. She mentions how she shared with both Ad and Asim that she sees a therapist and they responded surprisingly well, in their unique ways.

“Points for them both in my book," Frankie responds, and Everly’s heart swells.

“Oh! And Addison told me why she randomly came to the holiday party.”

“Yeah? What’d she say?”

“She said she had spent the last couple holidays with her ex, but then she cheated on Addison so they broke up and she didn’t want to spend the holidays there without her.”

Frankie perks up, leaning forward in their seat. “She’s queer?”

Everly shrugs. “We didn’t really get into specifics or labels or anything, but I guess so, yeah.”

“Huh.” Frankie leans back again, eyes glimmering with… mischief? Interest?

Everly narrows her gaze at her friend. “What? What’s that look?”

“Nothing.” They attempt a casual shrug, but Everly isn’t fooled. “Just interesting is all.”

Everly won’t get anything else out of them if the stubborn set of Frankie’s jaw is anything to go by. She purses her lips and tucks her legs up under her on the padded cushion, returning to her own thoughts.

What would it be like to have more than one person in her corner, as Frankie phrased it? She sees the possibility of adding two more people, if things continue to go well with her sister and Asim. That would be more people truly caring about her than she’s had since her parents died, and she’s never really been herself on the outside, so that part of it would be entirely new. It almost feels like Carrie is sitting on her shoulder cheering her on, telling her to push herself and not give up.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

ASIM GAVE HER a hint about their date when she asked earlier, telling her to dress nicely for being outside in the evening, and that only serves to increase Everly’s excitement. She chooses to wear her favorite red heels—they make her calves look stunningly toned—and she pairs them with a classic Little Black Dress. Sleeveless with ruching along one side of her waist that accentuates her curves, it hits just below mid-thigh. The weather is warmer than usual today, so Everly isn’t too worried about getting chilled once the sun goes down. Her hair is curled and pinned up on one side leaving her neck bared on the other, and she got her nails done earlier in the day with french tips.

Everly loves how fancy she feels.

She normally dresses up for work, but that’s more of a professional business vibe. The only other time she’s dressed up like this in recent years has been the annual holiday party, and she’s never been able to enjoy it. This experience is completely different. She’s had an afternoon of pampering, partly because it’s fun, but also because her anxiety demanded some self care to calm her nerves before their date. Now Everly feels amazing, looks amazing, and is ready to have an incredible night.

Asim pulls up right on time, the delivery truck rumbling into her driveway, and Everly is floored when he hops down from the cab. He looks absolutely bite-able wearing impeccably fitted charcoal pants and a deep green button down that makes his eyes pop. With the sleeves rolled up to his elbows showing off cordedforearms, Everly reminds herself not to drool, or stare, or beg him to skip the date and come inside where she can rip those fine clothes right off.

He takes long strides toward the porch, loosely carrying a bouquet of wildflowers wrapped in brown paper with a twine bow around them in one hand. Her heart melts, and her heels click across the floor as she rushes to open the front door for him.

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