Page 74 of Loathe Thy Neighbor

Her shoulders deflate. “Oh. Boo. What’s going on then?”

Shit. Think of something, River. Think of something pronto!

“My back, from skating last week. I’m still sore.”

She raises her brows. “Still?”

“Yes. I fell no less than ten times. Not like I’ll heal overnight.”

“Are you sure that’s it?”

No.“Of course.”

“I still can’t believe you went out on a date with Dean.”

I sigh at Caroline’s statement. “It wasn’t a date.”

“Oh, it totally was. A lame date, too. You didn’t even kiss.” I whip my head toward Maya, snatching the breakfastIbought from her hands. “Hey! Give that back!” She scrambles for the turnover.

“No. Turnovers are for people whoaren’tassholes.”

She pouts. “You’re just annoyed I’m right.”

I laugh derisively. “Please. You couldn’t be more wrong.”

“So you did kiss?”

“No!”

That’s not a complete lie. We didn’t kiss during roller skating.

We waited an entire week, an exceptionally long week where we pretended nothing happened. Dancing around each other in the apartment even more than we already had been. Bickering and arguing and picking at each other even more than usual.

Until finally, Dean made his move.

My lips are still tingling.

“You two should kiss. Or something. You’ve been crushing on him long enough.”

“Caroline!”

Her baby blues widen as she feigns innocence though she’s far from it. “What? I didn’t realize it was a secret.”

“Wait—she confessed she has a crush to you?” Maya asks Caroline. “I tried getting her to and she wouldn’t budge.”

“No confession, but I mean, come on”—Caroline gestures toward me—“it’s obvious.”

“I didn’t confess because there is nothing to confess. I donothave a crush.”

“Sure you don’t.” Maya shrugs. “Just like I don’t have a crush on Henry Cavill and haven’t masturbated to him at least three times this week.”

Caroline gasps. “It’s Wednesday, you horndog!”

Maya winks at her, and they both bust out into giggles.

“You two are starting to wear me out just as much as Dean does.” I take another big gulp of my coffee, needing it to deal with them.

“For someone who doesn’t have a crush, you sure do talk about him a lot.”

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