Page 15 of Try Hard

Eve

“K ieran will be so happy to hear you didn’t show up in rugby boots,” Kim said, catching me on my way back from the bathroom.

After Tanika had snatched up Ophelia’s wrist the minute we were done eating and dragged her away in an incomprehensible jumble of rapid speech, I’d mostly gone to the bathroom to escape Sammy.

Sure, the woman was nice enough, but, after watching her over brunch with Ophelia, I was starting to wonder if I’d been wrong that she was just after a momentary ego boost. I didn’t like the looks she’d shot at Ophelia, and I hadn’t loved having to rein in my interactions with her just to avoid Sammy scowling at her.

I wasn’t an indiscriminate bastard. I wasn’t looking to give away every thought I’d ever had about Ophelia over someone else’s wedding brunch, but I couldn’t lie and say I didn’t love being close with her.

A little light flirting had been fine. I was famously friendly, people would probably just write it off as that.

I turned to grin at Kim. “I know we haven’t hung out in person in a minute, but did he really think I’d show up here in them?”

She laughed and shrugged, tossing her hair over her shoulder. “I don’t think so. We made a bet and I think he wasn’t looking to win because he wanted me to get my prize. ”

I shot her a look. It wasn’t hard to understand that whatever she wanted to win was sexual. But, hey, they were almost newlyweds. Wasn’t that the whole thing?

“Do you want to know what it is?” she asked, conspiratorial and positively glowing.

“I don’t know, do I?”

She wiggled her eyebrows. “I know you were always closer with Kieran than me back in school, but we’re all friends here. And, you know, you’ve probably heard worse from the guys over the years.”

That was true. I was the only woman who’d played rugby with Kieran back in the day. The rest of the players had all been guys, and there had been few topics off limits for the group. Even with me around.

I nodded. “Fair point.”

She let out a small squeal and moved us over towards the wall, away from listening ears, and ran through a fantasy she was looking forward to fulfilling that involved a remote control vibrator. “We’ll think of you after.”

I laughed. “Please don’t.”

“Why not? We wouldn’t get to do it if you’d worn rugby boots. This is all because of you.”

“Somehow, I think you’d have gotten there without me.” I wondered whether I was supposed to be shopping their official registry or whether I was supposed to be sending them something more x-rated if I was, unwittingly, this instrumental to their sex life.

She winked at me—nothing like the way Sammy had winked at me earlier. More in the way that she knew she was getting some later and wanted me to know it was going to be amazing.

Which I definitely did not need to know, even if I was happy for the two of them.

“How about you?” she asked after letting the moment linger a touch too long. “You looked pretty cosy with Fia over food.”

That was a fair way of describing it. I had kept my hand along the back of her chair for basically the whole meal. And I’d given in to playing with her ridiculously soft hair, but, thanks to the orientation of our table, I doubted anyone else would have spotted that.

“Ah,” I mused, hedging my bets. “I didn’t actually realise she was going to be here. We ran into each other yesterday and… got to talking.”

Kim frowned and laughed. “Just yesterday?”

“Yes?”

“Okay.”

“What?” I enquired, wondering what she’d spotted that made that seem so ridiculous.

She held her hands up. “Nothing. Just… if I’d only recently reconnected with someone, I don’t think I’d have seemed as close with them as you two seem.”

I sucked a breath through my teeth, knowing it was easier to brush the accusations away with jokes. “Don’t let Sammy hear you say that. I think she might get jealous.”

Kim laughed. “Don’t worry about her. She can’t resist an athlete or a celebrity, and, what do you know? You’re both.”

I couldn’t help myself from looking across the room for Ophelia. I’d known that was all it was. There was no sign of her, though. Still off wherever Tanika had dragged her to.

Kim nudged me when I didn’t reply. “Sammy’s not the one I invited for you.”

It took a minute for the penny to drop, the cogs spinning in my brain and refusing to come to the obvious conclusion. “Who was?”

“Pfft. Fia, obviously.”

I stared at her. “Kim, I appreciate the… consideration, but… what?”

She huffed a little. “Well, that’s not the only reason I invited her. Obviously, we were friends back in school. I’d have failed French without her for sure. But we hadn’t been in contact for years and we were never very close outside of school, but, you know, in school, we were good.”

“Yes, thank you. I do remember.”

She grinned like the cat that got the cream. “I knew you would.”

I pursed my lips, fighting a sigh as I scrubbed my face.

I’d talked to Kim enough back in school.

We’d had a few classes together, and she’d always been fairly social, which probably explained how she’d been friends with Ophelia.

Kim was not the type of personality Ophelia naturally gravitated to, but, if such personalities made an effort with her, she stuck with them.

She was loyal. However, Kim and I had never talked about Ophelia, and I hadn’t once thought she was paying enough attention to know how I’d felt about Ophelia, even back then.

Kim watched me, her smile getting bigger and bigger until I laughed.

“Kim,” I said. “I’m going to need you to explain, please.”

She laughed in response. “Fine. So, I was a little oblivious to what was going on back then. Hell, I mean, Kieran and I didn’t even get together until five years after we all left school because I’d never realised he liked me, but I think that was for the best. Plus, now, we’ve been together for ages and we’re going to have the biggest, best wedding anyone’s ever had, and it’s all because we waited and saved for this, so, really the past is whatever. ”

I nodded. She spoke quickly at the best of times but that was especially rapid. “You’ve found each other now, so that’s what matters.”

“Right.” She beamed and straightened up her dress, her hands running over the sequined fabric. “But, that means that I didn’t know you had a huge crush on Fia.”

I cleared my throat, one side of my mouth turning up in amusement. “A huge crush?”

“That’s what Kieran said, and, especially after today, I’m inclined to believe him.”

“Good start to a marriage, honestly.”

Her teeth bit into her bottom lip as she lit up, delighted. “You’re not denying it?”

“Would there be a point?” I shook my head. “Kieran, Adnan, Imran, Paul… They all knew. As you pointed out, there weren’t a lot of conversational boundaries.”

She gripped my hands and held them between us, vibrating with excitement.

“Eek! Well, yes, so, obviously Kieran wanted to invite you to the wedding, and we were in a massive conversation about school and everyone who was coming from back then, and he dropped that you’d had a huge crush on Fia, and she and I had been friends, and then Tanika heard about it, and she and Fia had been practically besties back then, and she thought it was a great idea to invite her.

You know, for the two of us to catch up with her, but also… for you.”

Kieran and I hadn’t seen each other in person much lately, but we were still in a group chat together—an active one. Where was the friendship loyalty?

Kim was going to be his wife, though. He had far more loyalty to her than to me. And, if it helped get Ophelia here, was I really going to be upset about it?

“You’re using your wedding to try to matchmake me with someone I had a crush on in secondary school?”

She shot me an exasperated look. “Don’t say that like it’s in the past. You looked plenty like you still have a crush on her when you were feeding her your pancakes.”

I laughed. “Of course you saw that.”

“I see everything, Eve.”

“It’s your wedding, Kim. You’re supposed to be concentrating on a million other things.”

“Whatever,” she said, waving a hand. “You still like her, right? So, what’s the problem?”

There wasn’t one. Not really. Not in this conversation. Kim was still exactly who she’d always been—relentlessly enthusiastic. And, however we’d gotten here, we had arrived at me and Ophelia in the same room again. Even if she wasn’t interested romantically, I was grateful for that.

Given the Soph situation, maybe it was better if she wasn’t interested.

Over brunch, I’d been a terrible sister and basically forgotten Soph even existed—forgotten everyone existed except Ophelia.

Now that I was thinking about the logistics and the fact that other people were using their wedding to orchestrate this reintroduction, though, it came screaming back. Oops.

I pushed the feeling down. How I wished Kim or Tanika had stayed in touch with Ophelia.

Then, I’d be able to guarantee there had never been anything romantic between her and my sister, because what kinds of friends would do that to someone?

But, as it stood, I was going to have to wait until…

what? They saw each other in person? That would probably do it.

And I’d probably have to stop forgetting my own sister’s existence the minute I saw Ophelia.

“No problem, I guess,” I told Kim. “But, you do realise pulling something like that off requires both parties to be interested?”

Her delighted expression dropped and she looked at me like a disappointed parent, which was unfortunate. After a moment of just staring at me, she shook her head, wrapped her arm around one of mine, and started marching us forward. “Come on.”

It didn’t take a genius to figure out she was taking us to find Ophelia, but my heart still jumped when her red hair came into view, waving gently down her back.

Kim had brought us so directly, she had to have known what Tanika was up to.

I wasn’t sure what to do with that. Tanika and Kim together seemed to be some kind of unstoppable force.

“Hello,” Kim said excitedly, inviting herself and, by extension, me, into the conversation.

Ophelia jumped and my hand ached to reach out, to touch her back in reassurance.

“Hi,” Tanika said warmly, stepping back to allow us to form a little group. “We’re just talking about your honeymoon and how great it’s going to be.”

“Where are you heading?” I asked. Interestingly, Kieran hadn’t mentioned where they were going, only that he couldn’t wait to be on a beach with Kim.

“Bali,” Kim replied. “We were torn between a few places but then I read Fia’s review of it and was just sold. We booked it almost the second I was done reading.”

Tanika laughed. “Well, you let Kieran read the review too.”

I slipped my arm out of Kim’s grasp and leaned into Ophelia. “The celebrity of the travel world. Final say on where to honeymoon. And you thought I was the famous one.”

Her eyes were narrowed when she looked at me, but she couldn’t quite conceal her amusement. “Not even close to being the same thing, Archer.”

I lowered my voice, barely more than a whisper when she didn’t move away from me. “I don’t know, Ophelia , seems like you’re kind of a big deal. This is the wedding of the year by the sounds of things and they’re looking to you for honeymoon recommendations.”

We were so close together that, when she moved her hand, her gaze still locked on mine, her fingers brushed my thigh. She pulled her arm quickly behind her back, but I could have exploded from the contact.

I stared at her, melting into her gaze and her whispered apology until it was just the two of us, eyes locked, the world around us disappearing. She was so close. So reachable. Still so far away.

Her lips parted as she sucked in a breath and my eyes traced from her lips up over her cheeks, back to her hazel eyes. This close up, traces of the smattering of freckles that decorated her cheeks and nose were visible through her makeup.

So quickly I’d have missed it if I’d blinked, her eyes flashed to my lips and back up. A bubble of tension in my chest burst unexpectedly, leaving me breathless. The first time I’d allowed myself to ever consider that she might actually be attracted to me too.

I almost laughed.

“Say Fia?” Tanika said, her voice innocent.

Ophelia sucked in a sharp breath, looked quickly at Tanika and Kim, and took a small step away from me. “Yes?”

“You drove here, right?”

“Yes.” She frowned, looking between the other two.

Kim grinned. “Great. See, Alara gave Eve a lift here, but I really need her to do some bridesmaid duty stuff for me when we leave.”

“So,” Tanika said, cutting in smoothly, “we were thinking you could give Eve a ride back. Your parents live close together, right?”

I fought a groan. I didn’t know if I wanted to kiss them or kill them. An unstoppable force for sure. But, if it got me more time with Ophelia…

Questioning, cautious hazel eyes found mine and a hint of a blush crept up her neck, drawing my eyes to the soft, perfect skin there.

She cleared her throat. “That’s fine with me.”

And I tried not to punch the air in celebration.