Page 117 of The Edge of Falling

"He told me if we slept together, I would probably develop feelings for him. Bug, what am I going to do?"

"Well, do you want to tell him?"

"Are you joking, Alice? There is no way I can tell him that I think I'm in love with him. He'll never sleep with me again. He'll probably move out of the apartment, and I'll be mortified. Do you hear me? I'll be absolutely mortified."

"Well, I don't want you to be mortified."

"I mean, I'm just going to have to figure something else out."

"Like what?"

"Like just enjoying the hot sex we have, and maybe I'll see if I can go on some other dates to keep my mind off him."

"I thought you guys said you weren't going to date other people."

"No, we agreed not to hook up with other people. We can still go on dates so Foster and you don't get suspicious."

"Oh, yeah," she laughed. "I forgot that he doesn't know that I know."

"I know, and now I'm feeling guilty that I told you. I can't believe I couldn't keep my mouth shut."

"He has to know that you tell your best friend."

"Well, Foster's his best friend, and he's not telling Foster."

"True, but it's okay. I won't say anything."

"I know you won't, Alice"—I sighed—"but we should concentrate on looking for jobs because we need money, and I want to go shopping on Fifth Avenue. I saw these new Louis Vuitton handbags, and I want one."

"Oh my gosh, girl, there's a Gucci purse that I saw," she shook her head, "I need fifteen hundred dollars ASAP." I started laughing.

"Then I guess we need to get to finding a job."

"I guess we do," she said with a small smile. I opened my laptop, and that's when my phone started beeping. I grabbed it and smiled when I saw that I had a text message from Oliver.

"Who's that?" she asked.

"Oh, it's Oliver."

"Oh, what does he want?"

"Oh, he wants to know if I want to go to lunch with him."

"Oh," she said, nodding. "Okay then, that's cool. You want to meet me later?"

"I'm not going, Alice. We just got here, and we just ordered food."

"But he wants to take you to lunch and..."

"Yeah, just because he said, 'Jump,' I'm not going to say, 'How high?' I mean, I'm glad he's texting me and he wants to take me to lunch, but he should have asked me last night or this morning. He should have made plans in advance. I'm hanging out with you. This is our time."

"Are you sure?" she said. "I really don't mind."

"I know you don't mind, and that's why I love you. You're the most selfless person I know, but we're having lunch together, and we're looking for jobs, and you just got to town. I'm not just going to ditch you."

"Oh, I love that you are that sort of girl," she said. "So many friends will dump you in a second for a guy."

"I would never do that to you, Alice."

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