She nodded, and smiled.

“Why do I feel like I’m walking into a firing squad?” Hilary looked down, embarrassed. “Sorry, I don’t know what the hell’s happening to me.”

“It’s fine. I’ve grown used to your Caleb induced freak-fests. I was beginning to miss them.”

We both laughed as we climbed out of the rusted red Volkswagen Bug my grandfather fixed up for my sixteenth birthday.

“Make me a promise?” I stepped around her, blocking her path just as we hit the sidewalk in front the lively restaurant, which blared soft rock music.

Hilary stepped back, nerves clouding her expression and gave me a tense smile.

“No matter what happens with Caleb—” I began.

“I know, I know. I’m still gorgeous and perfect and deserve better if he can’t see that. I got it already. I love you but I’ll be fine, really.”

My brows rose, a smile tugging at my lips. “Actually I was going to say—I don’t want to hear you moping around the next week if nothing happens tonight, but yeah, let’s go with yours.”

Her mood lightened and she was smiling brightly when we walked through the double glass doors held open by black painted cinder blocks.

“There he is,” Hilary whispered the exact moment that our feet stepped inside.

I held my lips tightly together, stifling my laughter. The excitement in her voice was refreshing.

To my surprise, I felt a pang of jealousy. The last time I felt that level of excitement was the day Mark and I moved in together.

The thought of him forced my head to whip around, praying he wasn’t here tonight. I’d done fairly well avoiding him after the disaster of moving out the day after I caught him cheating last summer.

He refused to leave the apartment that day, watching me the entire time, shooting off excuse after pitiful excuse for why Mackenzie had been in our bed. With him. Naked.

I’m not a moron. No amount of excuses were going to stop me from throwing everything I owned into boxes and shoving them into the back of my friend’s pickup truck.

Mark finally relented and with the final box, he had the gall to sit on the floor, head hung low, and tell me he’d always love me. All I could think was—that couldn’t have been love. If it was, then I didn’t need it.

Love be damned, I never wanted to feel that vulnerable and broken again.

Since that dreadful day last summer, we’ve had very few run ins, and not a single one resulted in a word being spoken between us. I only hoped tonight wouldn’t change that.

I followed behind Hilary, smiling and nodding hello to the many familiar faces. There was a great turn out and spotting Caleb across the room, I could see the pride clearly written on his face.

It was no longer the outdated diner I grew up eating in. Having a mother that never cooked, the diner had practically been a second home when I was not staying with my grandparents. That was until about three years ago when the owner died and his son ran the business into the ground. The place turned into a dump, and rumor had it, Caleb won it in a poker game.

Not only did Caleb add an extravagant bar and dance floor, which was the highlight for most everyone my age, but he practically rebuilt the old place ground up.

I was proud of him.

Unlike Hilary, Caleb was never anything more than the boy who lived across the street and scared off the bullies that dared me to eat a worm when I was six. We’d never been particularly close, more like distant cousins that got along when around each other.

Hilary turned on her heel stopping me in my tracks and silently shouted the words. “Oh my God.”

I expected her to say more instead she gripped my arm. A hiss poured out through my gritted teeth from the pain. I looked down to make sure her nails didn’t break the skin. All clear, thankfully. The line to the ladies’ room was crazy, so cleaning up a battle wound was not on my itinerary tonight.

“Is he looking at us?” she whispered.

I pulled my wide eyes away from her fingers, pouting that they were still digging into my arm, and followed her gaze. Caleb was staring directly at us smiling, holding up his wine glass motioning for us to come over.

First things first, I needed to pry her manicured claws out of my skin, which she finally noticed and gave an apologetic shrug.

I could only chuckle. I understood it all too well. It’d been a long time since I’d felt that crazy enamored feeling, but I remembered it clearly. All actions on her part tonight would fall under the best friend clause.

Thou shall not be punished when butterflies are controlling thy body.

Weaving through the crowded room was not as easy as anticipated. I somehow found myself leading her, which was bizarre considering Hilary had started out in front of me. She was now trailing behind, walking no faster than a sickly snail and just as pale.

I could only imagine the emotions ripping through her as we grew closer to the one guy that had unknowingly held her affections.

Caleb left town after graduating high school. His return came as a surprise to pretty much everyone in town. The renovation of the diner went on for a few months without anyone knowing the identity of the new owner…until he suddenly appeared two weeks ago.

His father owned the local law firm and bragged for years about Caleb going off to college after graduating high school to later join in the family business. Instead, he skipped town never to be seen again.

Now, here he was, over five years later, and just as handsome as ever. His hair was shorter than in high school but still covered his ears in a shaggy mop of light-brown hair. Bright-green eyes lit his masculine face. No longer a boy.

He reeked of cool indifference with his black trousers and a simple white dress shirt left untucked and unbuttoned at the top. A black tie draped around his neck was loosened and untidy. Very few men could pull it off like he did.

The leather strings wrapped around his wrist were frayed and ragged but on him, they only added to his appeal. His lean build was less muscle and more toned and athletic. Caleb was tall, attractive, and looked like he just finished a photo shoot for GQ Magazine, but still, it did nothing to stir any feelings inside me.

“Hey, Cassie. You made it.” He still had that mischievous lopsided smile that made you wonder what he was up to. Caleb Townsend was always up to something.

“Surprised you remember me,” I replied, smiling.

“How could I forget.” He smirked, and turned his attention to Hilary as he continued. “Cassie here once left the light on in her room after dark, and from across the street I could see her singing with her hairbrush, dancing on her bed.”

Hilary giggled, her eyes locked with Caleb’s and all I could do was give a tight annoyed laugh. I remembered the night vividly or more accurately the next afternoon when he came over to tell me to close the curtains at night. Although that was after he teased me to no end for at least ten humiliating minutes.

“She had moves.” Caleb chuckled looking at me, taking a swig of his drink.

I quickly noticed he was looking past me. I tensed the moment hot breath caressed over my ear from behind.

“I wouldn’t mind seeing a few of those.”

Seriously! I knew that voice. I knew the masculine fresh scent and I could already visualize the smirk covering his gorgeous lips.

No, not gorgeous. Not sexy, not even attractive. Ugly! Hideous as a troll living under a rotting bridge.