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He gives my arm a gentle squeeze before he heads to the living room. I take a few deep, steadying breaths, pulling myself together before I go out to face everyone again. Everything shifted between us tonight and I don’t know where it’s going to go, but I hope we get the chance we should have taken all those years ago. This can be our fresh beginning.

Ronan is laughing at something Josie had said when I enter the room, but his eyes brighten, and his grin grows when he sees me. Contentment settles in the pit of my stomach as I settle beside him on the couch. “What were you laughing at?”

“Did you know Bryce and Carter have matching tattoos?”

I turn my head to gape at him. “No!”

Bryce groans, but Carter lets out an indigent, “What the fuck, man?”

My gaze snaps back to Josie and her wide grin.

“Don’t look at me.” Bryce points a finger at Carter. “You told your girlfriend, so I had to tell my girlfriend.”

“But we didn’t have to tell the whole group!”

Josie hides behind her glass of wine. “Oops. Must have had a little too much wine.”

“Oh, please.” Bryce rolls his eyes. “You knew exactly what you were doing.”

“They’re waves,” Ronan murmurs to me.

“Oh, my god,” I breathe, shifting to look at my best friend. “You have to tell me everything!”

"Hey, Kat!" I jog across the parking lot to catch her before she reaches her car. She turns at the sound of her name and waits for me to catch up. "Hey, do you have a minute?"

She arches a brow. "Sure, but something about the look in your eye is making me a little unsure if that's the right answer."

"I need to ask you a favor. I want to ask Mia out on a date."

In the two weeks since we talked everything out, I’ve seen a shift in the two of us. The way we still gravitate toward one another, find each other across a room. We’ve worked at getting that foundation back underneath us. I’m not going to waste it this time. They always say you have to ask for the things you want, and I am more than ready to ask.

"Okay, but that's usually a one-person job." She leans against her car, crossing her arms over her chest. "What could you possibly need me for?"

"I want to surprise her. I'm not sure she'll say yes if I ask. Things are better, but they're not perfect and I'm not sure she's ready to fully look past everything that happened."

"So you want to trick her? That doesn't seem like it's going to go any better."

Well, when she says it like that, it makes me feel like a dick.

"Be honest with me, Kat. Do you think Mia and I could be good together?" I ask.

She sighs out in defeat. "Yes, I think you guys could be great together, actually. Mia deserves to be happy, and you already follow her around like a lovesick puppy. I mean, seriously, you’re worse than your dog.”

"Don't I deserve to be happy, too?"

"Like I said, Mia deserves to be happy. Tell me the plan and then I'll decide if I want to help you."

Well, I guess I better really sell it, then. "Okay, so…"

Even as I walk up to Mia's door, I can't believe Katrina actually agreed to help me and managed to pull it off. I made her promise not to tellanyoneabout tonight, in case it blows up in my face. The plan is simple: Kat was supposed to offer to set Mia up on a date, a show of support in her mission to get back out there. I then told her, in detail, every plan I have for the date and asked her to pass it on to Mia.

Apparently, she'd been intrigued by everything going through Kat instead of being forced to share awkward text messages with someone she didn't know. Kat also made sure to point out that Mia had no qualms about getting set up by her, despite my situation with Jasmine.

I let Kat have the win.

I reach Mia's door and inhale a deep breath before reaching up and knocking. I hear movement on the other side before the door opens to reveal Mia. Confusion instantly overcomes her features.

My breath is taken in that instant. She looks stunning; comfortable, like I requested, but stunning enough to stand out in any crowd. Her wide-leg pants flow and the old school band tee knotted at her waist highlights two things I love about her: her tattoos and her waist.