Page 81 of Just Friends Forever
“Fine.”
Self-sabotage complete.
27
STEVIE
Gettingmy water bottle from downstairs is quite the process.
Because I make it into a process. How long is this private conversation going to last? Thirty seconds? An hour? And how am I supposed to know when it’s over? In a word, my escape was poorly planned. I can’t be blamed, though, given how awkward it was. Troy essentially ordered his brother to ask me out, and Austin responded by saying he needed to talk to Troy in private.
Is it possible they’re talking about something completely unrelated?
No. It’s absolutely not.
Finally, I hear the sounds of footsteps in the kitchen of Troy’s apartment and others coming in my direction.
I grab my thoroughly sanitized water bottle and hurry up the stairs to my door just as Troy opens his. I hold up the bottle. “Got it.”
“Oh, good. I was just coming to make sure you were okay.”
“Yep!” I follow him back into his apartment. “Just thought I’d give the water bottle a good washing, you know? They can get so gross after a while.”
“Yeah, definitely. You want to finish the episode?”
“For sure,” I say. I guess we’re pretending like nothing awkward happened, which is awkward in and of itself, and Troy and I don’t usually do awkward.
We go up the stairs, and Austin is grabbing a handful of popcorn from Troy’s bowl.
“Hey, Stevie,” Austin says. “What are you doing tonight?”
“Um, I don’t know.” I glance at Troy, who gives ye olde eyebrow wag. Apparently, he really does want me to go out with Austin.
“Do you want to go grab something to eat later?” Austin asks.
I force myself not to look at Troy. What would be the point? He’s the one who instigated this, which I’m trying really hard not to be hurt over. He’s being nice. He knows I was an Austin Sheppard fangirl all of my teenage years and into college. This is him being a good friend.
Which is why it’s so bittersweet.
“Yeah, that sounds fun,” I say, trying to convince everyone in the room, including myself.
“Cool. Leave at, say, 7?”
I nod.
“Great. I’ve got some video stuff to sort through before the reunion, so I’ll just be over here.” He gestures to the table, then goes to grab his laptop from his backpack.
Troy is already sitting on the couch, and I join him. Given what just happened, I decide against setting myself up like I had been before, opting to sit in a normal position that doesn’t subject me to Troy’s warm body and cologne.
The truth is, we really don’t have to finish this episode because I don’t even know what has happened up to this point. I was too distracted by thoughts of Troy—all the way up until he asked his brother to ask me out.
If that’s not humiliating, I don’t know what is.
* * *
There’s onlyone paparazzo outside Troy’s house when Austin drives me away in Troy’s car. The poor cameraman is so shell-shocked by the good fortune of having not just me but Austin Sheppard there that it takes him a minute to get his act together.
Austin doesn’t seem to mind, so I don’t make a big deal of it.
