chapter 1
Ashley and I had been secretly dating for a year. He was my best friend, Sarah’s, younger brother. He was shy about going public, so we agreed to tell Sarah after a year.
On our anniversary, I got a text from Ashley: “Dinner at my place tonight. I’m going public.“,
Excited, I arrived at the Miller house that evening, only to find a delicate- looking girl sitting beside him. She was the girlfriend Ashley intended to introduce.
I composed myself, forcing a smile. “Ashley, hi! …and you must be…?”
His face paled. He panicked.
It was our anniversary. My boyfriend, Ashley Miller, texted, “Dinner at my place tonight. I’m going public.”
Relief washed over me. Finally, I wouldn’t have to hide our relationship from my best friend anymore.
Ashley was Sarah’s younger brother, and we’d been secretly dating for a year. In the beginning, he’d been worried I’d dump him, so we agreed to tell his sister once things were serious, after a year. Now he was keeping his promise.
I called him, but it went straight to voicemail. On the third try, he finally answered.
“Hey, Ash, what’s up?” His tone was flat.
“Just wondering, what should I wear tonight?” I figured his parents might
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be there, so I wanted to be prepared.
“Anything’s fine. Whatever. I’m kinda busy. Gotta go. Talk later.” He sounded distracted.
He hung up before I could respond. I stared at my phone, confused. He’d invited me, hadn’t he? Why was he acting so indifferent? Maybe he really was busy with work.
Before I could process it, Sarah’s texts bombarded my phone:
[OMG! HUGE NEWS! My little bro is bringing his mystery GF home for dinner tonight!]
[Come over! Moral support! Help me vet her!]
I could practically see Sarah’s gossipy, excited grin. I hesitated, then replied:
[Actually, I was hoping to introduce my BF to you tonight too.]
Sarah responded with a string of exclamation points.
[!!! Is it National Boyfriend Day or something?! Bring him along! My parents are out of town anyway.]
[It’s a date!]
I agreed instantly.
With her parents away, I didn’t dress up too much. I grabbed a fruit basket and headed over.
Standing at their front door, a wave of unease washed over me. I shook it off, figuring I was just nervous about Sarah’s reaction to our secret.
Sarah flung the door open, grinning mischievously. Assuming Ashley had
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already told her, I blushed and handed her the fruit. She took it into the
kitchen.
