My Best Friend Stole Him. So I Stole Better. Chapter 04
The next day at noon, I got ready and headed out.
I texted Ethan I was leaving. He replied right away.
“I’m downstairs. Come on down.”
Ethan had parked in front of my building. When he saw me, he smiled. Fine sunlight scattered across his features—soft, quiet, warm.
Julian was always distant. Almost within reach, and yet always somewhere just beyond.
Ethan had those long, expressive eyes and thin lips, and there was something tender about the way he looked at people.
I used to be fooled by his face and think Ethan was a player. It took me a while to figure out he was, in fact, one of the most sincere people I knew.
“Been waiting long?”
He opened the door and waited until I was in the passenger seat before getting in.
I shook my head. He glanced over. “Not long. It’s not gentlemanly to make a girl wait. My mom would smack me if she knew.”
I couldn’t help laughing.
He laughed too.
The tension eased. Ethan started telling me about the restaurant.
“I’ve been doing research for a while now. It’s normally high-end, but on opening day some weird chain of events ended up matching a couple together.”
“Now it’s this romantic hotspot. Reservations are impossible.”
I looked at him, excited.
“I think I know the place you mean! I’ve wanted to try it forever. Just for that soft-shell crab appetizer—it looks incredible in every photo.”
Ethan’s voice pitched up in delight. “Right? I’ve been dying to try it too.”
“One of life’s great joys: eating, drinking, having fun.”
I nodded solemnly.
The first time I invited Julian out for a meal, he’d been reluctant.
Julian had said time should be spent on things that mattered. I’d been mortified. Sienna was the one who saved me.
She’d jabbed a finger at Julian, indignant.
“How is having a meal not meaningful? I don’t care—today you’re going with Summer, and I’m going to sit right there and watch you eat!”
Julian had blinked, dazed, and let himself get dragged along.
I’d thanked Sienna afterward. Without her, I don’t know how I’d have saved face.
Later, during dinner, Julian said, “I apologize for what I said earlier. Meals can be meaningful. Especially with interesting company.”
I’d thought he meant me. My cheeks had burned.
Now, looking back, I realized his eyes had never actually landed on me.
He didn’t dislike meals. He just didn’t like eating with me.
Two people on different frequencies could never make each other happy.
Ethan saw me quiet and started telling me stories—about the time he tried extreme sports with friends and made a fool of himself.
“They all made fun of me. But I’m genuinely afraid of heights! Does anyone get that? Later, when Sienna found out, she said I was some spoiled rich boy up on my high horse, no guts, no spine. God, I’ve been wronged!”
I nodded seriously and took a sip from the bottled water he’d placed by my seat.
“Fear of heights is totally normal. I’m afraid of the dark. Heard too many ghost stories growing up. I still sleep with a night light.”
We chatted the rest of the way there.
We stepped out of the car and into a garden restaurant. The moment we crossed the threshold, I saw a beaming Sienna, with Julian standing beside her, looking at her like she’d hung the moon.
Ethan’s expression turned to stone.
I frowned. “Sienna? Julian?”
Sienna turned. The smile on her face froze. She reflexively stepped back from Julian.
Then she took in me and Ethan. Something shifted in her expression. Her lips slowly pursed.
“What are you two doing here?”
An accusing tone.
An anger I couldn’t name surged in my chest. I looked at this girl I’d known since childhood, and suddenly all of it felt pointless.
I let out a cold laugh.
“Forgot to tell you—Ethan and I are together. He’s my boyfriend now.”