Page 5 of Betting on the Best Friend
“How is she taking it?” Ava asks.
“She hasn’t texted you? Interesting,” I say when all three shake their heads. “She’s fine. Annoyed, maybe.”
Madison is beaming again. “That’s great, right?”
They want me to be excited—but why? I look at Oliver for help. He gives me a small headshake. I swallow a sigh and turn to Madison. “Why is that great? Were you worried she’d go back to him if he stayed single?”
Sami snorts with enough force to puff out a few strands of bright pink-streaked hair before they settle back against the blonde. “She would never.”
“We’re just so excited to get you and Ruby together!” Madison says.
Foreboding snakes through me. Their meddling is inspiring—as long as it’s not you they’re meddling with. Then alarm hits. What made them even suggest this? What do they know?
Oliver is the only one who’s ever suggested I have a thing for Ruby. I’ve caught curious looks from her roommates over the years that made me wonder if they suspected. But none of them asked, and I never said anything because there wasn’t a point. Besides, saying anything to one of them is as good as telling all of them, and if anyone is going to tell Ruby, it’sme. When the time is right.
If I don’t want them scenting the truth, I have about a half second to save this. I let my expression slip into confusion. “Sorry, what? Get us together?”
“Don’t even try,” Sami orders. “We’ve been waiting for her to wake up and figure it out, and this engagement should do it. You need to be ready.”
I don’t want them involved. How do I force a pivot? “Be ready for what? To hang out and talk to Ruby like I always do? I’ve got it covered.”
“To . . . to . . . woo her!” Madison says. “Then you guys will be together happily ever after.”
The picture that “happily ever after” with Ruby paints causes a familiar pang in my chest of wanting something badly that is always out of reach. But I don’t want them to push her toward me. I would feel like a backup or default. I’d always question it.
Ruby has to pick me on her own or we won’t happen. That’s my nonnegotiable.
I draw on all the practice I’ve had pretending over the years. “Woo her? Am I Mr. Darcy?” I tease Madison. “Sorry, ladies. I’m not your Huckleberry.”
“You’re Ruby’s Huckleberry,” Ava says.
“What’s a huckleberry?” Sami asks.
“It’s from the movieTombstone. It means you’re the guy for the job.” Ava says. “If you’re a Ramos or grow up next to a Ramos, you can quote the whole thing.”Her expression turns puzzled as she studies me like I’m data that doesn’t make sense. “I know she’s had you in the friend zone since you’ve known her, but that was because she was already in a relationship.”
“And then she wasn’t and yet we’re still friends. You know what that means, Ava?” I work hard to stay in my Chill Charlie groove. “No zoning. Wearefriends, period. Nothing to escape or whatever you think you need to help me do.” I hope they’re buying my exasperation.
“But . . .” Madison glances at Sami, then back to me. “We thought it would be so perfect if you dated. Like, forever.”
It’s hard to pretend I don’t agree, but this matters too much to break now. I need Ruby to find her way to me, not have her friends shove her into my arms while she’s shellshocked.
“Sorry, no.” I hold up my arms in an X. “Not a huckleberry.”
Madison looks like she’s going to argue but Ava steps in. “Okay, Charlie. We hear you. Just know if we could pick anyone in the world for Ruby, we’d pick you.”
I smile. Ava has a core sweetness beneath her serious exterior. “Ruby should pick whoevershewants in the whole world, Ava. Let’s let her do that.”
But I’ve got my own plan to make sure she chooses me.
Chapter Three
Ruby
I park in myspace behind the condo and pause before turning my car off to let Bad Bunny finish singing about getting drunk—but only because he misses the people he’s lost, that sweet man. When he’s done, I turn off the car and step into the early evening post-rain humidity.
The parking lot at the Grove is behind our condo, which means I enter through our back sliding-glass door.
“You’re here,” Madison says, perking up as she rinses a glass in the kitchen sink. “Ruby’s here!” she calls to the rest of the house.
