Page 18 of Friends to WHAT?!

“I donot!” I protest. “And I did not! That was Fox!”

“Yeah, right,” Poem says. “I’ve seen his apartment. That place is spotless. Yours, on the other hand…” She trails off with a tsk, shaking her head. The wild gleam in her eyes tells me she’s having the time of her life.

“I wish I felt less strongly about kicking women,” I declare. Then, a light bulb goes off. “But you’re not going to be a woman, soon. You’re going to be asister. I could totally kick a sister.”

“And does,” Almond grumbles. “Even though all I ever do is help him.”

Poem sniffs. “First of all, Fox would never let you hurt me,” she says. “Second, I’vebeenyour sister, and it hurts my feelings that you’d imply I haven’t.”

“I’m incredibly concerned about your hurt feelings right now,” I deadpan, narrowing my eyes at her contributions to the Wolfe Sucks list. “My highest concern, truly.”

“You used to be contrite,” she retorts. “And apologetic. That was the correct behavior. Go back to that.”

“I fear my apologetic spirit left me around the time I watched you squish a ball of crumbs into the crevice of the tattoo chair you all think is a snack table. Something about the possibilityof ants in my sterile environment has me less concerned about making amends with you, especially when I’ve already made them with Fox. Do I need to get better? Absolutely. Do I need to get better toyou? I no longer think so.”

“Excellent,” Leora mutters, making a note under my list of positive attributes, which have been transferred to a portable whiteboard for our convenience.No longer beholden to Poem’s whims, it reads.

“Hey!” Poem protests. “Put that under the cons!”

“I need him beholden tomywhims,” Leora returns. “You already have your own boy to do with as you please. Don’t be greedy.”

I perk up. “I’m your boy?”

“Of course,” Leora replies, brows furrowing. “Unless you have someone else you’d like to head up this project? I already put my name on it, though. That’s basically calling dibs. Nobody’s going to disrespect dibs, right?”

Poem pouts but does not disrespect dibs.

I pout, too, but for a different reason entirely. “I’m your project boy,” I correct myself.

“Yes,” she confirms. “And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t interrupt at this stage. I’m getting family history. It’s important that it’s accurate with no biased takes from Project Boy. Wait your turn nicely, and I’ll even get you a treat.”

I groan, dropping my head to the chair-turned-table.

“And Poem, I believe you can afford to hire a cleaner for those crumbs, yes?” Leora continues. “Your petty is beautiful and respectable, but this is his business you’re messing with, not just him. He has standards he has to keep in order to keep his doors open. He’s being generous enough letting us eat here.”

I raise my head incredulously.Lettingthem eat here? I was bulldozed!

“Fine,” Poem agrees, wrinkling her nose. Her eyes stray to the crumb-filled crack, though, and a tinge of regret hits her eyes. “I’ll make sure it’s taken care of by the best October has to offer.”

Leora nods, and I wonder at her. She just gotPoemto do what she wanted. In less than thirty seconds, even.

I thought I found her attractive before, but this is a whole new level. She’s not just powerful, she’spowerful. I think I might not even mind the nightmare that is a family meeting to dissect and game plan the project that is me. Maybe I was wrong about this being the worst… Maybe some of the heat I thought was hellfire is actually just my bodily reaction to the sheer level of temptation Leora evokes in me.

Temptation I’m not meant to be permitting, I remind myself. She hasn’t expressed interest in anything more than the project potential I present. I assume her throwing herself whiteboard-first into it means she is okay keeping our friendship and even adding an IRL level to it, but romantically…

I blink, and my brows furrow.

Did I…

Did I even tell her I wanted to meet for romantic reasons?

I definitely told her kidnapping was presented as a romantic action, but beyond that…

I groan, throwing my head back down on the chair as I replay our interactions today and their serious lack of clarity on my end. I can’t believe I went through all of this and forgot to tell her the reason I even wanted to meet her in the first place.

I can’t believe I forgot to tell her that I am irrevocably, unconditionally, irreversibly in love with her.

While my family calls out more of my downfalls, I roll my forehead against the cool leather and bemoan my incredible stupidity.