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I imagined what it might be like if she and I ever made it past the awkward tension that constantly simmered between us.An immature dream, I scolded myself. Why wish for the impossible? Hayden was only interested in her business. Why would she ever choose to settle down when she could have a different person in her bed every day? And why would she ever choose me?

The ache in my gut churned and I forced myself to focus on what Nikkie was saying. I focused on June and Dane, and how exciting the next chapter of their lives together was going to be.

They sat side-by-side, their arms and hands entwined. June rested her head affectionately on Dane’s shoulder, and I remembered how we’d tease them for being so nauseatingly cute together. I really was so happy. I wished the happiness would drown out the ache that grew inside me, swallowing up bits of my emotions as it spread.

Nikkie sat back down, flipping her short dark hair triumphantly. “I should do that for a living,” she chimed, fanning herself theatrically.

“You sure are on a roll today,” I said, sliding her phone back across the table to her. “You’re already gathering your own fanbase.”

“Fanbase?” She frowned, following the finger I pointed over her shoulder. Three of Dane’s friends immediately waved back, vacant, dumbstruck expressions plastered on their mugs. She snorted daintily. “They’ll get over themselves. I’m way too high maintenance.”

“Worth it, though.” I chuckled.

“As are you, my love,” she declared, knocking the lip of her glass against mine. A toast of our own.

I drained the rest of my drink and glanced around at the small crowd that had poured into June’s favorite restaurant to celebrate the engagement. The food and alcohol flowed freely, and soon enough, we were rowdier than most football matches.

“We’re gonna get kicked out soon,” Nikkie muttered as a new chorus of whoops and cheers echoed from Dane’s friend group. “Funny, isn’t it? That someone as soft and artistic as June would end up with a jock.”

“Dane is hardly a jock.” I laughed. “He played baseball once and hit someone in the face with the bat.”

Nikkie threw her head back in a melodious laugh. “Oh, God, that was hilarious,” she gasped, her palm hitting the table. “He couldn’t show his face around the coach for a week!”

“Exactly.” I chuckled. “But I get what you’re saying. It’s kinda weird how things turn out like that sometimes, I guess.”

“I don’t think I could date my polar opposite,” she said. “A clone of me? I would get down on both my knees and beg them to marry me.”

But I’d drifted off into my own thoughts again, her toast from earlier ringing in my ears. I’d never given much thought to soulmates. As a kid, I’d had zero interest in romance and as a teen, I was too confused to even start. As an adult, the confusion was gone but the question remained.

“What you said just now,” I said to Nikkie, tapping her forearm softly. “About soulmates… Do you think they’re real? Do you think we all have one?”

Nikkie studied me for a long moment, her eyes narrowed. Whatever conclusion she came to, she left it unsaid.

“I think soulmates are special,” she said. “I don’t think every person on Earth has one special person made just for them. Some people have more than one, and some people don’t have one at all. I think it’s up to the person.”

I nodded, collecting her words like shells along the shoreline and adding them to my thoughts, sparkling gems among the chaos.

The melody I’d written earlier that day drifted through my thoughts, threading Nikkie’s words and my scattered hopes together.

“Come on, you lovesick puppy,” Nikkie cooed, pulling me out of my seat and dragging me to the makeshift dance floor, where Dane’s friends had created a circle.

I danced with Nikkie by my side, grateful that she’d picked me to be her best friend one day in the second grade all those years ago. We danced until our feet went numb and laughed until our sides ached.

I hugged June and Dane so many times it was borderline too much, but they accepted my embrace every single time.

And when I finally managed to convince Nikkie to leave the restaurant, after the staff had all but swept us out the doors, we glanced at each other on the sidewalk. And laughed some more.

My phone chimed then, buzzing in my pocket and I unlocked it to see a message from Hayden.

My heart thudded, thoughts sprinting leagues ahead of me as I opened it:

Meet me at H Corp tomorrow, bright and early. 7 am sharp.

Chapter twenty

The Line In The Sand

Hayden