🥊 Hate or Fate 💕 {Enemies to Lovers}

.37.

"So, Bart asked about me? I mean, not that I'm surprised, but you know," Rebecca sounded intrigued as her bust swelled in her sweater with pride. "What did Gray tell him?"

"That you're going to a dinner party at Gray's house," I informed her while fixing myself a sandwich. "And I'm going too."

Rebecca had been home when I walked in, so I had no time to think of a good lie. Instead, I told her half of the truth. That I'd run into Gray while getting coffee and he'd invited us to a dinner party with his fancy art friends, and Bart.

"Do you think he likes me?" she squealed.

"Hang on, I thought you liked Gray?" I asked.

"Yeah, well," Rebecca shrugged as if that was yesterday's tea and my intel was cold. "That obviously isn't happening, at least, not as long as we're coworkers."

She said 'coworkers' like it was despicable, which pricked my ribs with guilt. Gray had invented that rule to deter Rebecca and if our little attraction became public, she'd see it for what it really was, a betrayal of her friendship.

This was girl code one-o-one: Thou shalt not make (maketh?) out with the boy your friend is currently crushing on (or ex-boyfriends or family members).

"And Bart's hot," Rebecca kept going. "Like, really, really, really, hot. Like, I'd be willing to try some fifty shades shit to get his motor running, if you know what I mean."

"I am tracking," I replied, trying not to laugh at how close she was to drooling and pulling my laptop off the couch. "Do you want to see his Insta?"

"Oh-my-god!" Rebecca practically shouted at me. "Yes! How do you know me so well?"

"Because I'm your accidental roommate," I shrugged and opened my computer to tap in the password and avoid looking her in the eye.

And, because I'm trying to nudge you in another direction, romantically speaking, I thought to myself.

"Because you're my sister from another mister, that's why." Rebecca corrected on her way to join me on the sofa. "So, what else did you and Gray talk about?"

My whole body went stiff. "What do you mean?"

"You guys must have chatted about other stuff after getting coffee," she reasoned out loud, leaning over me to take control of my computer when my body failed to work fast enough. "Was it, Elijah?"

"Some of it, yeah," I fed her another half-truth, which knotted my stomach a little tighter. I was officially a crappy friend. I had no right to keep thinking about how much I wanted to kiss Gray. How much I wanted to give in to the temptation. How good it would feel to just let go of all my plans and just feel good. "But mostly he was too busy dropping the tidbit that Bart said he wanted to marry you."

"What?! No!" Rebecca was eating it up like ice cream and I was digging myself in deeper. "Wait, is that him?"

She snatched up my laptop to start scrolling through Bart's photos, pausing whenever she hit a shirtless pic. Bart owned a gym, so about ninety percent of his pictures were naked from the waist up. And for good reason, the man prioritized his personal health, and it was oiled up and on display (filter-free) in his pictures.

"What's his dating history?" She probed when she found a picture with Bart and his arms around two busty ladies in the gym.

"Um, he dated a girl named, Chantel, in college," I thought back as far as I could remember. "But they broke up before his junior year. Oh yeah, Bart played football in college, but don't' ask me what position. He was in Elijah's frat and they partied a lot, you know, so that made Bart very popular, but he mostly hung out with the guys. He's dated a few women over the years, but no one special that I can remember."