Home > You're My Boo : A Friends-to-Lovers Halloween Romance(2)

You're My Boo : A Friends-to-Lovers Halloween Romance(2)
Author: Frankie Love

“What's wrong?” she asks.

“Nothing. I just...”

“Let me guess. You and Natalia are in another fight?” She rolls her eyes as she begins walking down a row of costumes.

The store is ridiculously picked through, though. And there are hardly any options for us. This is going to be difficult. “Yeah. I got in more than a fight with her,” I tell her, “I ended things.”

Lucy freezes, her eyes growing wide, and she lifts her finger in the air, ready to say I told you so, but she doesn't. “I'm sorry. Is it going to be awkward?” she asks slowly, as if choosing her words with extra care.

“What's with this new tone?” I ask. “And why do you care? Natalia has always annoyed you.”

“I know, but I've been thinking maybe I'm too judgmental. Maybe the reason you've never settled down, the reason you're always playing the field, is because I pick apart every girl you date. Maybe I'm the problem here.”

“You are not the problem,” I say adamantly, lying. She is the problem, just not for the reason she thinks.

“Oh really? Because I feel like our relationship threatens every chance you might have to have more than a few weeks of fun with a girl. It's always a fling or a hookup or...”

I cut her off. “We don't need to talk about my love life. Shouldn't we be looking for costumes?”

Lucy tenses. “Love life?” she asks with emphasis. “I didn't realize we were talking about you being in love with any of these girls.”

“I'm not,” I say. “I wasn't, it's not like that. I'm just saying.” I run a hand over my neck, hating that I let fear drive my decisions for so long. Fear of losing her. “Do you really want to do this here? Now?”

She shrugs. “I don't know. Why don’t you see a future with Natalia? You’ve known her nearly as long as you’ve known me.”

We flip through hangers of witch hats and black cloaks, nothing jumping out at us. “She didn't work with my list.”

Lucy smirks. “Oh, we’re back to your magical, ethereal, painstakingly curated checklist.”

I laugh. “You're in a mood. Aren't you, Lucy?”

“Yes,” she says, “I am. I've never seen this alleged list you've created depicting the perfect partner, but I hate to break it to you, Noah, this pixie dream girl doesn't exist. Otherwise you'd already have her. God knows you've dated everyone in town and across the ocean.”

“Lucy, I haven't dated anyone across the ocean. When I'm out to sea, I’m stacked like a sardine on a Navy carrier. It's not exactly the place to carry out illicit affairs.”

“Maybe not,” she says, “but...”

“There are no buts,” I say, cutting her off. I pull out a costume. “Clowns?” I ask.

She shoves it back. “No way.” Then she immediately pulls out an 80s rocker leotard.

“I'm not wearing that,” I say.

“Why not?” she asks. “I think you'd look good in Spandex.”

“Nobody looks good in Spandex.”

She shrugs. “I don't know. I look pretty good in Spandex.”

We tense for a moment. I want to tell her she'd look fucking incredible in that costume, because it's the truth. But I don't. Maybe because it's too close to what I really want to say. I want you, I need you. I ended things with Natalia because I'm so over the casual thing when you're the only one I've ever wanted.

I don't say anything. And neither does she. Instead she shrugs it off, jamming the hanger back on the rack and pulling out a police officer uniform. I shake my head. “No way. I don't think you'd have it in you to get handcuffed by me.”

Her cheeks turn bright red. “You know what? You have no idea what I’ve got it in me to do.”

“Okay. Well, why don't you enlighten me, Lucy. What have you been handcuffed to that you haven't shared with me?”

Her eyes narrow, but if she’s contemplating shock and awe, she decides against it. Instead she drops the topic and changes the subject.

“I went out last week.”

I nearly spit out my drink. “With who?”

“Charlie Ham.”

“You went out with Sammy Hammy?”

“His name's Charlie. I don't know why anyone gave him that nickname in the first place. It's really unfair.”

“And you did some kinky shit with him, he handcuffed you to something?”

Lucy twists her lip. “It wasn't a date. He was just helping me with my exam. He's a nurse. Did you know that? He finished two years ago.”

“How did he do that? We graduated high school in the same year,” I say.

“He did some classes senior year at the community college. And summer school. He was smart about it.”

“Lucky him,” I grumble.

“What?” Lucy asks. “You hated school. Now you want to be my study buddy?”

I'm thinking I want to be more than her study buddy. I want to teach her all sorts of things. The kind of things that she really needs to learn from me and only me.

“We have to find a costume,” I say, “and we're running out of time.”

“I'm sorry,” she says. “We should have met up a few weeks ago.”

“We would have, but you were too busy with Sammy Hammy.”

Deadpanning, she answers, “Fair point.” Then she smiles and adds, “I'm so glad you're in town this year, Noah. I've missed you. Last Halloween was the worst one of my life.”

I smile. “I'm here now.”

“Not long enough though, right?” she asks.

She’s right. Next week leave is over, and that means leaving her. Again.

It breaks my heart thinking about leaving again. But as much as I hate that I’ll have to leave her again, the idea of leaving without her knowing how I truly feel is even worse. The truth is, after twenty-two years of not having the girl I love, I can't really imagine going off to sea without her again.

 

 

Chapter Two

 

 

Lucy

 

 

I continue flipping through the clothing rack of costumes, totally in check with my body language, but inside, I'm freaking the fuck out.

Noah is single.

He ended things with Natalia and he is back on the market.

But if there is a momentary flush of excitement at the potential of me being the one to get him off the market, I remember that he doesn't think of me like that at all.

Otherwise, sometime in the last, oh, fifteen years, he might have made a move. Just one single move. Any sort of move at all.

But instead I have been permanently planted in the friend zone, the best friend zone, which, while it isn't the worst place to be, is not where I want to be. Not anymore. This past year, when I went ten months without seeing him, proved to me that I love Noah. Not like a friend — like forever.

But if he knew that… he might reject me… and not having him in my life, not being his best friend, would devastate me. He's my person and I am his.

I’m just not his romantic person. He finds other people for that fix.

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