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"I feel like I haven't seen you in forever

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"I feel like I haven't seen you in forever."

My eyes drifted to Penelope's as I stepped foot in Jollie's. She was leaning against the counter of the empty parlor which wasn't all that surprising given how early it was. I doubted anyone was interested in ice cream right now.

"I've been busy," I explained, taking a seat at one of the tables near her.

It technically wasn't a lie. I had been busy—with Cronan, that is. If I was being honest with myself, I'd still be in his house if he hadn't told me, through a sticky note of all things, that he was going shopping with friends.

"Too busy to visit a friend?" Penelope asked but her tone was playful.

"We are not friends."

"We hang out together—"

"You force me to," I reminded.

"Well if we aren't friends then who here do you consider a friend?"

"Nobody."

There was no one in Oakwood I'd say I was close enough to consider a friend. I preferred to keep my distance from the townspeople.

Penelope frowned. "That sounds lonely."

"I can assure you, I'm doing just fine."

"So that guy you kept eyeballing at the club wasn't your friend?" Penelope inquired.

"Who?" I questioned even though I already knew who she was referring to.

"Come on, you know who I'm talking about. The blue-eyed man who you left with at the club."

"He's not a friend," I told her.

It wasn't that I didn't see Cronan as a friend, but I didn't want to just be Cronan's friend. Falling into the friend zone wasn't on my list of plans now or ever.

"You're a strange one, Fen."

"So I've been told."

Just then, the bell on the front door rang, causing both our heads to turn. A dark blond-haired man with brown-blue eyes entered. Penelope's grin grew as the man approached.

"I didn't know you were visiting today," she said as she walked around the counter and pulled the poor guy into a soul-crushing embrace.

"I didn't come for you. I came for the ice cream." The man wheezed.

"You're so mean." Penelope shook her head and pulled away, giving the guy a chance to breathe. "Fen, this is my brother, Kingston. Kingston, this is my friend, Fen."

"We are not friends," I reminded her.

"You're fighting a losing battle there," Kingston told me. "I swear she has selective hearing."

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