Best Friends Forever

Chapter Three

I'd practiced my speech on the way to Courtney's forward and back until I had every beat memorized. Every point about why I would be the perfect date and every reason why we would have so much fun together–especially since no one would recognize me in my clever disguise.

Once I rang Courtney's doorbell and the dark oak was swept back to reveal the woman in question, however, all of my words seemed to float away on the wind. She showed up in a tight cami and booty shorts–clothing that accentuated every bit of her athletic body–while she dried off her long tangle of chestnut hair.

Hair that I'd like to tangle my fingers in and...

"Can I help you?" Courtney asked, a single brow raised and an uncertain expression on her face.

I blinked away my adolescent fantasies and forced myself to focus back on the task in front of me. The one that was looking up at me with wary speculation, as if she had no idea who I was.

Maybe my costume is better than I thought.

All of the meticulously planned speech was still nowhere to be found in my brain, so instead I just held my arms out and grinned before saying, "Ta-da!"

Courtney's eyes narrowed as she looked me up and down, appearing more confused and defensive as the seconds ticked by.

"Court. It's me," I said and placed both hands on my flat chest.

She continued to stare at me with that face of disbelief for several seconds before something finally clicked for her.

"Dahl?" Courtney asked in a dubious voice.

"Mm-hm."

She shook her head and continued to stare at me for several more seconds before she grabbed me by the front of my shirt and dragged me inside her house with a huff.

"What the hell happened to you?" Courtney demanded.

"I finally got that makeover you've been bitching about for years," I said.

Courtney looked me up and down for a second with an expression that was hard to read.

"This isn't exactly the makeover I had in mind," she muttered before her eyes landed on my face with a thoughtful hum. "What happened to your glasses?"

I shrugged. "Thought it might be better to get contacts."

"Seriously? After all the times you told you wouldn't be caught dead putting something in your eye?" Courtney scoffed with a roll of her eyes. "What finally changed your mind?"

I cleared my throat and walked past her into the dining room so I could swipe a bottle of water from the fridge.

"Yeah, about that," I began with a nervous tinge to my voice before I cracked open the bottle and took a big drink. "That's actually why I came over."

Courtney deposited the wet towel that had been resting around her shoulders over one of the dining chairs before she sunk down into it and looked up at me expectantly. "Okay. Spill."

Again, I tried to conjure the perfectly meticulous speech I'd planned on the way over, but it seemed to have died the moment I was actually in physical distance of Courtney.

No choice but to wing it, I guess.

"I know how bad you wanna go to that stupid reunion, so I wanna take you," I said, simply barreling forward with as much careless impulse as I had when I got my haircut.

Courtney blinked a few times in surprise before she laughed under her breath once, a humorless sound, and shook her head.

"I already told you, Dahlia," she muttered darkly. "I'd be a joke if I showed up with my best friend after everything I've said."