Kelsey’s shrill voice yanks me out of my nostalgia. “Yeah, so don’t take this the wrong way…but what are you doing here?” By Don’t take this the wrong way, she means, Don’t take this as anything nice because I fully intend for it to come out extra witchy. I wish she’d act like this when Nathan is around. When he’s watching, she’s sweet as pie.
I give her my most sunny smile, refusing to let her steal my joy so early in the morning. “What does it look like I’m doing here?”
“Being a creepy stalker who’s secretly in love with my boyfriend and breaks into his apartment to bring him breakfast.”
See, here’s the problem. She says the words my boyfriend like they should be trump cards. Like she just tossed them on the table and I’m supposed to gasp and close my hands over my mouth in shock. My heavens! She won!
Little does she know, her card is the equivalent of a lonesome five of clubs. Girlfriends come and go in Nathan’s life like fad diets. Me, on the other hand—I was here long before two-faced Kelsey, and I’ll be here long after, because I am Nathan’s best friend. I’m the one who’s been through it all with him, and he’s been through it all with me: high school gangly phase (me, not him), college football signing day, the car accident that changed my entire future, every stomach bug of the past six years, the day I took ownership of the dance studio, and when the confetti was falling on him after his team won the Super Bowl.
But MOST importantly, I’m the only person in the entire world who knows how he got the two-inch scar right below his navel. I’ll give you a hint: it’s embarrassing and has to do with an at-home waxing kit. I’ll give you another hint: I dared him to do it.
“Yep!” I say with an overly bright smile. “Sounds about right. Stalker who’s secretly in love with Nathan. That’s totally me.”
Her eyes widen because she thought she’d really zing me with that one. Can’t burn me with the truth, Kels! Well, except for the stalker part.
I turn away from Kelsey and wait for Nathan. There was a time in my life when I tried to befriend Nathan’s girlfriends. Not anymore. None of them like me. No matter what I do to earn their affection, they are predisposed to hate me. And I get it, I really do. They think I’m a major threat. But that’s where the story gets sad.
I’m not.
They all get to have Nathan in a way I never will.
“You know,” she says, trying to grab my attention again, “you could just go ahead and save yourself the embarrassment and leave. Because when Nathan comes out here, I fully intend to ask him to make you leave. I’ve been patient so far, but the way you act toward him is super weird. You hang around him like a clingy piece of toilet paper.”
I try not to look too patronizing when I give her an over-the-top Okay honey turned-down smile and nod. Because here’s what I forgot to mention before: I’m not a threat to these women…until they make him choose. Then, I’m more threatening than a glitter bomb. I might not get to sleep in Nathan’s bed, but I do have his loyalty—and to Nathan, there’s nothing more important than that.
Kelsey scoffs and folds her arms. We’re deeply engaged in a battle of frightening expressions when Nathan’s voice rumbles from the room behind me.
“Mmmm, do I smell coffee and donuts? That must mean Bree Cheese is here.”
I flash Kelsey a not-so-subtle grin. A winner’s grin.
Nathan turns the corner wearing a pair of black athletic shorts and no shirt. His chiseled, tan chest that could only belong to a professional athlete is on full display, and that Adonis V of his is winking and making everyone blush. His hair is damp and glistening, and the tops of his shoulders are slightly pink from the hot water. This is his fresh from the shower look, and no matter how many times I’ve seen it, it never ceases
to make me swallow my tongue.
He has a small towel in his hand, and it’s getting rubbed all over his incredible chocolate brown hair. That lucky towel is giggling with glee. Nathan’s hair is so wavy and delectable that he has a five-million-dollar endorsement deal with a men’s luxury haircare brand because of it. After that first commercial went live—Nathan stepping out of the locker room shower with a towel wrapped around his waist, beads of moisture clinging to his taut muscles, and holding that bottle of shampoo—women everywhere flocked to the store to grab the same brand in hopes of it magically turning their man into Nathan. At the very least, they wanted their man to smell like Nathan. But here’s another secret that only I know—Nathan’s hair doesn’t smell like that shampoo because he prefers a cheap generic brand in a green bottle that he’s been using since he was eighteen.
“Thought you might need this,” I say, handing Nathan a steaming cup of coffee from our favorite little shop a few blocks away. I open the donut box like a treasure chest. The donuts shine in the light. Bing!
Nathan groans and cocks his head to the side, a soft smile in the corner of his mouth as he tosses the towel onto the countertop. “I thought it was my day to get the coffee and donuts.” He plucks a maple glazed out of the box and leans down to give me a quick peck on the cheek like he always does. Completely platonic. Brotherly.
“Yeah, but I woke up super early this morning with a charley horse in my calf and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I went ahead and got it.” I hope he buys my fib.
Truth is, I couldn’t sleep because I broke up with my boyfriend last night and I’m dreading telling Nathan. Why? Because I know he’ll prod me with questions until he finds out the truth behind the breakup. And he can’t know that I broke up with Martin because Martin isn’t Nathan.
Maybe if I’d squinted, plugged my ears, and wobbled my head side to side, I might have been able to trick myself into thinking it was him. But who wants to live like that? It’s not fair to me or Martin. So now, the goal is to find a man who attracts me more than Nathan does. A real bug-zapper of a man is what I’m looking for. This time I won’t settle for anything less than complete and total smittenness.
Nathan lifts one of his thick brows. “Probably should’ve eaten a banana before bed last night.”
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, yeah, but my answer is still the same: I hate bananas. They’re so squishy, and they taste like…bananas.”
“Doesn’t matter. Clearly your potassium is—”
Kelsey clears her throat, and that’s when we notice her massive scowl. “Excuse me. Is it not odd to you that she is here at 6:30 in the morning with coffee and donuts when you have your girlfriend over?”
Again with that G word. And okay, yeah, maybe I should have realized Kelsey would be over this morning, and I should have waited for Nathan to meet me with the coffee and donuts. That’s my bad. Sometimes I forget Nathan and I don’t have a particularly normal friendship.
Nathan clears his throat lightly. “Sorry, Kelsey, I just thought you remembered Tuesdays are always my running days with Bree.”