“Peter?” An irritating flicker of jealousy rose in Thea’s stomach, but shehopedBryce was talking about Peter. The sooner she could stop watching him flail and flounce for Bryce’s attention, the better.
“Is that the guy you were talking to on Friday?” Mikey flexed his non-existent muscles beneath his shirt. “Do I need to have a word with him?”
“Me first!” volunteered Thea, raising her hand like a schoolgirl. “There’s something… off… about that guy. I don’t like him.”
“I can’t imagine why not.”
Thea didn’t like the way Mikey smirked at her without subtlety, his eyes glistening as though he knew something she…. Who was she kidding? She knewexactlywhat he knew. It was the very thing she’d desperately been trying to smother in herself for a while now. Apparently, the only one oblivious to it was Bryce herself, and Thea hoped to God it stayed that way.
It was hard, though. It had felt so easy, soright, to be with Bryce on Friday; to sleep in her bed and wear her clothes and wrap herself in the coconutty smell of her while their fingers laced together and played like lovers. If Bryce knew, though… Thea doubted things would ever be the same again.
So she ignored it; cherished the few intimate moments she got with her best friend and tried not to let those imposter feelings write themselves all over her face, if only to preserve their friendship. Thea didn’t know what she’d do if she lost it — lost Bryce. It wasn’t an option.
She glared and kicked Mikey’s swivel chair, sending him flying backwards into his computer desk. Bryce seemed not to notice, even with the clatter it made. She was always somewhere else these days, somewhere Thea couldn’t reach; always staring glassy-eyed at something Thea couldn’t see. It wrung her heart; made it feel like a twisted, damp rag being slowly torn to shreds, but she knew there was only so much she could do for Bryce, and she would do it if she knew what that was. A thousand times, she would do it.
“Bryce?”
Bryce woke from her trance with a sharp intake of breath, twisting a silver ring around her pinky finger. Thea could make out the strip of skin the cheap jewelry had turned green. “I should get going. I have work.”
“We’ll come with you. Me and Mikey are going to Hannah’s store, aren’t we, Mikey?” Thea tugged at Mikey’s shirt to show he had no choice in the matter.
“Are we?” he groused.
“Yep.” Thea beamed and rose from her chair. “We’re going to go ask a girl on a date, and apologize for dropping a chicken nugget down her dress, too.”
“Great,” Mikey said, words laced with sarcasm. “Can’t wait.”
* * *
Leather ‘n’ Lace was a small, yellow-paneled store on Maple Street, just around the corner from Fothergill Books. Thea loitered outside, feigning interest first in the wilting pansies planted along the sidewalk, and then the dichotomy on display with the black tutus and biker boots in the window. She could just make out Mikey hovering by the cash register inside, Hannah casting him a dithering look as he no doubt ruined his second chance at asking her out.
She winced when a tray of semi-precious stones he’d had his hands in clattered to the floor by his feet.
“There is absolutely no hope for this boy,” she muttered under her breath, watching as he knelt to pick them up. Hannah helped.
But maybe Thea had been wrong, because when their foreheads touched and they both lifted their gazes, Thea could have sworn she saw something pass between them.
It made her heart sing. She wanted that. Shehadthat. The way Mikey looked at Hannah now, all starry-eyed and soft smiles, was the way she was certain she looked at Bryce. She didn’t want it with anyone else. She couldn’t imaginehavingit with anyone else. Even now, standing outside the row of boutiques and bakeries not an hour after Bryce had left for work, Thea missed her. Bryce was the best part of her day.
Thea didn’t know what to do about that.
Before she could wonder, Mikey finally emerged wearing a triumphant grin. “I got her number.”
“Attaboy!” cheered Thea, dragging him well away from Leather ‘n’ Lace before he could go back, embarrass himself again, and ruin the entire moment. “I’m so proud. I don’t know how the hell you did it, but I’m so proud.”
“Thank you.” Mikey was almost skipping beside her, which only made it harder to walk linked arm-in-arm with him, not that it was ever easy, since he was six inches taller than her. Now he slipped out of her grasp to coolly adjust the collar of his denim jacket. “It’s a new era. I’m aplayer,now.”
Thea rolled her eyes and patted his arm. “All right, Danny Zuko; let’s not get ahead of ourselves. You have to wait a few days before you ask her out. You don’t want to come off too strong.” It felt a little too late for that, but Thea didn’t want to rain on his parade just yet. “Ask her to get drinks or take her for dinner.” She stopped and pointed to a restaurant across the road, where a waiter was setting up the outdoor tables with bunches of artificial sunflowers. “Ooh! Maybe that fancy Italian place!”
“As appreciative as I am for this, Thea, don’t you think it’s time you started following your own advice?”
A sudden, unexpected defensiveness seized her as she snapped her gaze to him. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about Bryce.” He poked Thea in the arm knowingly. “I might be clueless in love, butyou’renot that subtle.”
Thea’s breath stuttered in her throat, nearly choking her. She swallowed it all down, doing her best to school her composure even as her face prickled with heat. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“She doesn’t know, does she?”