hips, pulling her away from the bar and back toward me until she’s pressed against my chest.
“What the…?” she questions through a giggle and looks up to meet my eyes. “What are you doing?”
“She’s right here,” I say to Gina, my hands still resting on Ava’s hips. “This is my girlfriend.”
Gina’s eyes go wide and then her face scrunches up in shock, and just as she opens her mouth to respond, Trev chokes on his beer and sprays it across the table, the mist of booze landing on everyone.
Ava dodges it by turning to press her face into my chest.
“Ew,” Gina mutters, swiping a hand across her forehead.
“What the fuck is happening right now?” Trevor asks, his eyes bouncing between Ava and Gina and me.
“Did he just say you’re his fucking girlfriend?” Desi shouts, her voice echoing inside the bar, over the crowd, and nearly drowning out Madonna’s voice singing “Santa Baby” from the DJ’s speakers.
Gina strides away from the circus on a huff, but the scrutiny doesn’t lessen. If anything, it just intensifies.
Desi and Claire get so close, I fear they might climb in our laps.
“Well, Ace, I guess the cat’s outta the bag, huh?”
“When I said we’d tell them about our plan tonight, I didn’t quite picture it coming off this crazy, Luke.” Ava snorts, smiling up at me.
I just shrug.
“You two have some explaining to do,” Claire says, her eyes pointedly glaring at us.
“Wait…are you two dating?” Desi asks. “Like, have you finally realized—”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Ava cuts her off. “We’re not actually dating. We’re pretending to be dating.”
Claire scrunches up her nose. “Huh?”
“You know how you guys suggested that I just bring Luke to Vermont? Well, it’s happening.”
Trevor sighs and shakes his head.
“Damn, talk about a letdown,” Desi mutters, sharing a look with Claire.
“Tell me about it.”
“Wait. Why are you guys acting all weird?” I question.
“Because you two are fucking blind,” Trev retorts.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing, man,” he answers through a sigh and finishes off the rest of his beer. “Fucking nothing.”
Ava quirks a brow and meets my eyes. “Is it just me, or does it seem like our friends are mad at us?”
All I can do is shrug.
But when Trevor meets my eyes, I don’t have to be a mind reader to know what he’s thinking. Or why he’s thinking it. For years, he’s been playing the same broken record, saying that I have a thing for Ava. That I see her as more than my best friend.
Sure, I can see that Ava is downright beautiful. She’s amazing, but anyone with two fucking eyes and a brain can see that.
And, obviously, I love spending time with her.
But that doesn’t mean I have a thing for her.
Says the man who didn’t hesitate to pull her over and introduce her as his girlfriend when another woman was coming on to him…
December 13th
Ava
“Pivot!” I shout toward Luke, giving my best Ross Geller impression, as I grip the top of the burlap- and rope-covered Christmas tree and lug it up the steps of our building. He stands at the bottom, carrying most of the weight, and to be honest, I’m here mostly for looks and entertainment value.
Normally, we’d, you know, take the elevator, but it’s on the fritz…again.
“Pivot! Pivot!” I yell over my shoulder as I round the corner and hit the second flight of stairs.
Luke’s jaw goes hard and serious, and somehow, I think my value as an entertainer is decreasing.
“I swear to God, if you say pivot one more time, I’m going to drop this tree and let it slide back down to the lobby. And then I’m going to take it outside and light the damn thing on fire.”
I giggle. “Pivot!”
“Ace!” Luke exclaims, his voice exasperated, but also, I can hear a teeny-tiny hint of a smile.
“I’m just trying to help you.”
He looks up the stairs and meets my eyes, his hands still gripping the bottom of the tree. “You’re trying to annoy me.”
“I can’t help it if those two things are parallel objectives.” I stop in the middle of the staircase and shrug. “You’re really funny when you get all irritated.”
“Can we keep it moving?” he questions. “I mean, after dragging this sad excuse for a tree halfway across the city, I’d like to get it into your apartment sometime today.”
I don’t move an inch. “Sad excuse for a tree? Luke London, you’re going to hurt Billy Bob’s feelings.”
My tree is a little sparse, but what he lacks in full, lush pine, he makes