Page 42 of Don't Puck His Best Friend
I shake my head immediately. “Nope.”
“Sirus will be busy with the guys most of the night doing whatever hockey players do when they’re not actually playing hockey. I’ll be alone and bored. You can’t abandon me.”
“You have your sorority sisters,” I point out. “Remember last time when you ditched me for them after exactly three minutes?”
“That was different.”
“How?”
“I was drunk, and they were talking about rush week drama. And you know how much I love to hear gossip I’m not part of.” She perches on the edge of my bed, giving me her best pleading expression. “Come on, Harper. It’s not that I don’t want to go alone—it’s that I really don’t want to go alone.”
I laugh at that. “What?”
She sighs, giving me puppy dog eyes. I roll my eyes at her.
The truth is sitting heavy in my chest. I kissed Cole Wednesday night, and we’ve been texting like nonstop. Sweet, easy conversation that makes me feel like maybe I could actually like someone without it ending in disaster.
And Liam has been messaging me again. Not constantly, but enough that I know he’s thinking about me. Asking if I want to hang out, sending me memes that are definitely not appropriate for public consumption, generally being the kind of charming trouble that I know I should avoid but can’t quite bring myself to block.
Maddie narrows her eyes, studying my face. “Is this because of Cole?”
“It’s because of common sense,” I say, but even as the words leave my mouth, I know they’re not entirely true.
“Since when do you have common sense about men?”
“Since I decided to start making better choices.”
She’s quiet for a moment, then leans forward with that look she gets when she’s about to say something I don’t want to hear. “Harper, you know you can’t hide from every guy who might actually be good for you, right?”
“I’m not hiding.”
“Then what are you doing?”
Before I can answer, my phone buzzes on the nightstand. I glance at it automatically and freeze when I see Liam’s name on the screen.
Liam:Party tonight? I promise to keep my hands to myself...
My pulse does that familiar skip, and I know my face must give something away because Maddie’s expression shifts from playful to concerned.
“What is it?” she asks.
I flip my phone face-down quickly. “Nothing. Just work stuff.”
But it’s not nothing. It’s the fact that I’m sitting here with Cole’s easy affection warming my chest while Liam’s dangerous charm makes my heart race, and I have absolutely no idea what I’m supposed to do about either of them.
I can picture Liam’s easy grin, the effortless way he moves through a room like he owns it, how being around him feels like standing too close to a fire. And I can picture Cole too—steady and deliberate, the kind of person who doesn’t seem like he’d take games lightly, who kisses like he means it and texts back consistently and probably never leaves anyone guessing where they stand.
“So?” Maddie asks, still watching me carefully. “What are you gonna do?”
I exhale slowly, trying to project more confidence than I feel. “I’m going to stay home.”
I say it like it’s final, like I’ve made a decision and I’m sticking to it. But my phone is still face-down on the nightstand, Liam’s message glowing at me from the screen even though I can’t see it, and I can feel the pull of temptation like a physical thing.
“Okay,” Maddie says, but she doesn’t sound entirely convinced. “If you change your mind, text me. The party’s at the house on Maple—you know the one.”
After she leaves, I toss my phone onto the couch and try to go back to my marketing homework. But five minutes later, I’m staring at it again, thumb hovering over Liam’s message, still completely unsure which direction I’m about to step.
The smart choice is obvious. Cole is sweet and stable and genuinely interested in getting to know me. Liam is...complicated. The kind of complicated that usually ends with someone getting hurt.
