Page 21 of Don't Puck His Best Friend
The thought pops into my head uninvited and completely unwelcome. I force my gaze away, focusing on the traffic light changing colors across the street, but the observation sticks anyway.
Harper glances toward the restaurant windows where we can see Sirus and Maddie still deep in conversation, their heads bent close together over their shared dessert.
“They’re not going to notice we left for at least another hour,” she observes.
“Then we’re officially off the hook for wingman duties.”
She tilts her head, considering this. “For tonight, anyway.”
The way she says it isn’t exactly a promise, but it isn’t a goodbye either. There’s something in her tone that suggests she might not be entirely opposed to the idea of seeing me again, which is both surprising and oddly gratifying.
We stay outside for another twenty minutes, talking about everything and nothing. Favorite movies, worst professors, the questionable decisions that led us both to agree to this setup in the first place. It’s easy in a way that first conversations rarely are, comfortable without being boring.
Eventually, the cold starts to win out over the novelty of actual fresh air, and we head back inside. Sirus and Maddie barely register our return, too absorbed in whatever they’re discussing to do more than glance up when we slide back into the booth.
Harper catches my eye across the table as she shrugs out of my jacket, handing it back with the smallest smile.
I take a sip of my water, realizing that somewhere between her laugh and the way she looks in my jacket, I’ve stopped thinking about this as a favor for Sirus and started thinking about how I’m actually interested in this girl.
9
Post-Date Debrief
Harper
Maddie’spracticallyglowingasshe starts the engine of her BMW, humming something under her breath that sounds suspiciously like the song that was playing when Sirus leaned in to whisper something in her ear during dessert.
“See?” she says as we pull out of the parking lot. “That wasn’t all bad, was it?”
I give her what I hope is a noncommittal shrug. “You had fun. That was the point, right?”
Maddie shoots me a look that clearly says I’m not getting off that easy. “Don’t deflect. I saw you two sneak outside together. And you were smiling.”
“I smile sometimes. It’s a normal human expression.” I force a smile to show her.
“Harper, you smiled at a guy. On a date. That’s like spotting a unicorn in the wild.”
I roll my eyes, but my stomach flips at the memory of Cole’s half-smile when I made that joke about his jacket. The way he looked at me like I’d said something genuinely funny instead of just politely amusing.
“He’s cute, he’s polite, he didn’t spend the entire evening staring at your chest,” Maddie continues, ticking off points on her fingers while we wait at a red light. “In today’s dating world, that’s basically finding a unicorn that also does your taxes.”
“Bare minimum behavior isn’t a love story, Mads.”
But even as I say it, I can’t help but think about Cole’s steady gaze when I was talking about college and freelancing, the way he handed over his jacket without making it feel like some grand romantic gesture. Just thoughtful. Natural.
Here I go romanticizing things again. Maybe I’m overthinking it.
The streetlights flash through the windshield as Maddie merges into traffic, creating a kaleidoscope of shadows across the dashboard. She’s in full interrogation mode now, which means I’m not getting out of this car without a thorough debrief.
“So?” she prompts. “First impressions?”
I stare out the window at the familiar city blocks sliding past. “He’s... fine.”
Maddie snorts, a sound that’s somehow both elegant and completely undignified. “Fine means you didn’t think it was completely awful but you’re too scared to admit I might actually be right about something.”
She’s not wrong, which is annoying. I was prepared to hate tonight, armed with a dozen reasons why this was a terrible idea and why I should have stayed home with my books. What I wasn’t prepared for was Cole. He was nice. Actually nice, not perform-for-the-audience nice.
My mind flashes, uninvited, to Liam. He’s hot, reckless, and the kind of magnetic energy that pulls you in before you realize you’re drowning. Cole’s presence had been different. Calm, observant, deliberate. The kind of man who doesn’t need to fill every silence with a joke or a flirtatious comment.
