Page 46 of Love Thy Neighbor

“I don’t know about you, but a comedy sounds good to me,” she says, bending over at the table we have next to the door, fishing around inside her purse.

My eyes fall straight to her ass and the tiny shorts she’s wearing.

Look away, Cooper. This is the kind of shit that got you in trouble last time. Look what that led to.

She stands and I dart my eyes anywhere but at her, hoping she didn’t just catch me staring.

She shoves her card at me. “Here. I’ll buy.”

“No,” I tell her, pushing it back her way. “You got breakfast and drinks the other night. It’s my turn.”

Just like that, the air between us shifts, the mention of the other night hanging over us like a thick cloud.

We don’t move, her hand still outstretched, holding on to her card from one end while I hold on from the other.

I could easily pull her to me. Could wrap my arm around her waist and haul her onto her tiptoes until her mouth is even with mine. Could press our lips together and revel in how good she feels again.

But I shouldn’t. I fucking shouldn’t and IknowI shouldn’t.

I shouldn’t want to kiss my best friend.

I clear my throat, letting go of the card. “Seriously, Care, I got it.”

She nods, then tucks the card back into her purse.

“What do you want on the pizza?” she asks, grabbing her phone and scrolling to find the place we always order from. “The usual?”

“Extra black olives.”

“Ew.” She scrunches her nose, bringing the phone up to her ear.

“Pretty sure you can’t say ew when you eatpineappleon your half.”

“I can and will say ew becauseew. Also, since you’re buying, I’m ordering breadsticks.”

“Mooch.”

“Cheap ass.” She flips me off. “Hi, yes,” she says in her sweetest voice, “I’d like to place an order for delivery, please.”

She moves into the kitchen to rattle off our order and grab drinks.

We’ll spend the time it takes them to deliver the pizza watching previews and deciding on a movie. When Caroline said it was my turn to pick, she meant the genre. After that’s decided, we still must agree on the actual movie we’ll watch.

It’s our routine, and it feels good to be doing something normal.

After tossing some money on the table, I grab the remote and settle onto the couch in my spot, navigating back to the home screen of the movie app.

“Here,” she says, handing me a can of flavored carbonated water. “We ran out of lime.”

“Thanks,” I say, popping the top and taking a hefty swig.

Ugh. Grapefruit. My least favorite.

Caroline settles onto the couch, tucking her legs beneath her. It doesn’t escape my notice that she’s sitting on the complete opposite end of the couch, as far away from me as she can possibly get.

Guess I spoke too soon about normal.

Usually, she’ll come in here and grab her blanket, then lay her head on my lap, where she’ll inevitably fall asleep once her belly is full.

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