Page 172 of While You Were Trending

I bite my lip. “Am I crazy to want him to stay and date me?”

“No.”

I grab my favorite lipstick and stare at her in the mirror over the sink as she leans in the doorway. “No? That’s all you’re giving me?”

“He’s objectively handsome, with a nice personality, an obvious knack for making you happy in bed, and he’s trying to be your friend despite all of the reasons it would be easier and probably wiser for you two to avoid each other instead.”

“I wish—I wish he and Alex weren’t still friends. And I feel like such a brat for thinking it.”

“If Alex was a true friend, he’d want Declan to be happy with the woman he loves.”

I miss my lips with the lipstick. “Dammit, Mabel.”

“Tell him how you feel. Tell him what you want.” She joins me in our shared bathroom, opens one of her drawers, pulls out makeup wipes, and then points me at the toilet. “Sit. I’ll finish you up.”

I scowl at her, but I also obediently take a seat.

“You know you deserve to be happy, right?” Mabel says as she tackles my face.

“Yes,” I grumble.

“And you have a good heart capable of real love. And so does he.” She smirks again. “Though it wasn’t nice of him to bait you by stealing your mug again yesterday morning.”

“He likes when I yell at him.”

“Red flag.”

“I never yelled at Alex. I was too afraid if I did, he’d break up with me.”

Mabel twists her lips to one side. “Hmm.”

“It’s less that Declan likes when I yell at him, and more that he likes that I’m not suppressing my reactions just to be agreeable and make him like me.”

“Oh, he’s definitely testing you to make sure you don’t let him get away with shit. And you don’t.”

“And that’s still a red flag?”

She smiles. “No. I was testing you to see if you’d defend him. Hold still.”

I hold my lips still, but I scowl at her with my eyes.

“And finished,” she says. “Want me to touch up your mascara?”

“Yes, please,” I mutter begrudgingly.

She smiles wider.

It’s a Mabel miracle.

Unfortunately at my expense.

“Since when do you play so many mind games?” I ask her while she takes mascara to my eyelashes.

“Since your ex’s best friend showed up with a bunch of bombshells.”

“Like that he’s always liked me and that Alex got divorced?”

“Exactly.”