Page 25 of The Cyrano Situation
"Are we still on for tomorrow?" he asked, voice low.
"Unless you've come to your senses and called it off, yes."
"Great." He shifted nervously. "We agreed on 7:30. I thought maybe we could meet at your place at 6:30 to go over everything one last time?"
"Fine." I poured coffee into my mug, not looking at him. "But I'm not helping you pick out an outfit."
"Already handled. Priya took me shopping."
I nearly spilled my coffee. "Priya knows about this?"
"Not the earpiece part," he clarified quickly. "Just that I have a date with Jules. She's been really supportive."
"That's Priya. Supportive to a fault." I took a sip of coffee, burning my tongue in the process. "6:30 at my place. Don't be late."
He nodded and headed back to his desk, a spring in his step that made me want to trip him. I immediately felt bad for the thought. This wasn't Cyril's fault. He had no idea that I'd somehow managed to develop feelings for him while trying to set him up with someone else, all while pretending to be him.
God, I really was Cyrano. Without the nose. Or the poetry skills. Or the noble sacrifice.
Okay, so maybe Priya had a point.
Friday arrived with the grim inevitability of a dentist appointment. By 6:15, I was pacing my apartment, already regretting every life choice that had led me to this moment. When Cyril knocked at 6:25, I briefly considered pretending I wasn't home.
Instead, I opened the door to find him looking better than I'd ever seen him. Priya had done her job well. The dark blue button-down and fitted jeans were a vast improvement over his usual boring office worker bee/professor aesthetic.
"You clean up okay, Cy," I admitted, stepping aside to let him in.
"Thanks." He fidgeted with his sleeve. "Is it too much? Not enough? I could go home and change—"
"It's fine. You look fine." I cut him off before he could spiral. "The earpiece is on the coffee table. Let's test it."
We spent twenty minutes making sure the technology worked, then went over our strategy one final time. Cyril would arrive first and get settled. I'd follow fifteen minutes later and sit at a nearby table, close enough to observe but not so close that Jules would notice me.
"Remember, I'm just backup," I reminded him. "Try to be yourself first. Only use me if you're really floundering."
"Right. Be myself. With backup." He nodded, looking slightly ill. "I can do this."
"Of course you can." I found myself saying it with more conviction than I expected. "Jules already likes you. This is just... confirming what he already knows."
Cyril gave me a grateful smile. "Thanks, Hart. For everything. I know I wasn't your favorite person when this all started, but... I'm glad we're friends now."
Friends. Right. That's what we were.
"Don't get sentimental on me now, Cyril. We've got a mission to complete."
He laughed, some of the tension leaving his shoulders. "Operation Don't Let Cyril Make a Fool of Himself."
"Exactly. Now let's go before I change my mind."
As we headed out the door, I tried to ignore the hollow feeling in my chest. This was what I'd signed up for. This was the plan all along. Cyril meets Jules, they fall in love, and I go back to my regularly scheduled program of being perpetually single and everyone’s favorite friend.
Everything was going according to plan.
So why did it feel like I was heading for a trainwreck in slow motion?
As we stepped into the elevator, Cyril turned to me, his expression suddenly serious.
"Hart, what if this works? What if Jules and I really hit it off?"
