Best friend's Baby Sister [END]

BFBS : 19

•••

I don't budge. An apology goes a long way, buddy. Looking away, I stick my fork into my cake, carefully slicing off a flower made of frosting, and put it in my mouth. A few seconds tick by and neither of us speak.

And a few seconds turns into a minute. And another, until my cake is gone and I have nothing to occupy myself with. I turn to Freen, telling her—for real this time—that I need to get back to my office.

"Can I take you out to dinner?" she asks before I have a chance to get a word out.

"Like a date?" I blurt. Shit. I wish I had more cake to stuff in my mouth to keep me from talking. Though her answer could change everything.

"Do you want it to be a date?"

Damn you, Freen. Every time I think the ball is in her court, she throws it back at me.

"Depends on where you take me."

She grins, and I hate that I want to impress her. "Considering I've never been here, you might not want me to be the one picking where we go. Unless you like pizza, because the one restaurant I've been to so far was good enough to go back to."

"I do like pizza."

"Well, then." She stands and offers her hand. "Shall we? Or do you have to stay?"

"I should probably walk through and pretend to be social." I finish my water and take her hand.

"You never answered me," she says, her deep voice rattling everything inside me.

"About what?"

"Do you want it to be a date?"

I swallow hard, throat suddenly thick. This is the type of pressure I crack under, and it's always because I put said pressure on myself. I get ahead of my own thoughts and end up saying something I regret. "What do you want?"

"You're Heng's kid sis. He'd give me shit if he found out I was in Chicago and didn't check up on you."

Freen is right. Heng would be pissed. Bright and Gulf too. Even Billy...and my parents. Freen is basically part of the family, and it's not like she's being rude. So why is my blood starting to boil?

I look at her out of the corner of my eye, frustration building. God, I hate that I want her. I hate that I want her to see me as more than her friend's little sister.

I just wish I could hate her.

"Yeah, he'd be pissed for sure." I toss my empty plate in the trash and my cup and fork into the recycling and wait for Freen to do the same. Not saying a word, we walk to the party. With each beat that passes, I'm tempted to break my own rule of not drinking at work.

We're pretty casual around here. Some may even accuse us of being too hipster or crunchy for a company that develops software. We have drinks and massages at the office, and anyone without children are welcome to bring their pets on 'bring your child to work day.' As long as work gets done, anything goes.

But since I got promoted, I've tried to uphold a certain standard and make sure I stay professional at work. I'm far from uptight and have often been caught dancing to the Disney Descendants soundtrack in my office. Yet I don't like to drink at work because I'm the type of person who says she'll have one shot of whiskey and then keep drinking until I've had five.

"Rebecca!" Marissa, a co-worker and my best friend in Chicago, sets down her empty cup and opens her arms. "Yes! I was hoping you'd stop working and—who is this?"

"This is Freen. My brother's friend," I introduce. "Freen, this is Marissa. She works with me." I shake my head. "Obviously. We're at work."

Freen smiles, eyes lingering on me a moment longer than I'd expect from someone who's only here out of loyalty to their best friend.

"The Freen?" Marissa whisper-talks.

I flash her a you're-talking-way-too-loud glare and give her the tiniest nod. She hooks her arm through mine.

"Do you have a drink? No, we need to fix that. I'll bring her back in just a second," she says to Freen and spins me around. "What the hell is she doing here?"

"I don't know. Wait, actually I do. She's in town for some doctor convention. Medical doctors, not Doctor Who doctors."

We stop at the bar and Marissa gapes at me for a moment. "So what are you going to do about it?"

"About what?"

"Oh, come on, Rebecca. You've had a giant crush on her for years, even if you're not willing to admit it to yourself. I've known you since you started here, and every time you mention the name Freen Sarocha, you get all googly-eyed."

"I do not."

"Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously. I don't get googly-eyed when I talk about her. And for the record, I never talk about her."

"Then how do I know about her?"

The bartender comes over and against my better judgment, I order a cranberry and vodka.

"She's Heng's best friend. I know I've talked about my brothers before."

"You have, and I don't know Bright's best friend."

"It's Gulf," I counter. "Who I've talked about."

Marissa responds with pursed lips. "Gulf is your brother too. Billy—I don't even know his wife's name."

"I wish I could forget it too," I grumble, intense anger surging through me at the mere mention of my sister-in-law. No one has seen her in years, but the anger is still strong.

"That's not the point here. The point is, you have the hots for this girl. And now she's here."

"She's attractive," I tell her. "Obviously."

— TBC 🐻