"You are not going dressed like that."

I look down at the black cardigan, grey shirt, and mom jeans I was wearing, not seeing the issue with my outfit.

"What's wrong with my outfit?" I asked Riley in confusion.

"You can't wear that on a date!" She exclaimed, dragging me away from our friends in the living room to her bedroom closet.

"It's just lunch. Why do I have to get all dressed up?" I groaned, turning my head and look at Nick with a begging stare for help.

"To impress him!" Riley exclaimed.

"Adam has seen me with no makeup, messy hair, and in a pair of sweatpants for an entire semester. I think this outfit is impressive enough."

"Where are you guys even going?" Nick asked me, not coming to my rescue.

"Insomnia." I responded with a huff, watching as Riley shuffled through her clothes. "I'm not changing, Riley."

She stopped going through her clothes and walked out of the closet. "Why not?" She whined as I walked out of her room.

"Because I look fine. It's a lunch date, not a fancy dinner." I tried to explain for her to understand, walking past the living room and grabbing my bag from next to Harry on the couch.

"Don't worry about them. I think you look beautiful." Harry says quietly to me before I was too far to hear him. He was grinning cutely as he gave my hand a gentle squeeze, and I was too in shock to speak. So I shot him a smile and quickly turned my head so he didn't see my face heat up. He's still the only guy who can make me turn into the color of a tomato.

"Still doesn't hurt to dress to impress." Nick sang in my ear as I started walking away. I lift my hand and push his face away from me while he laughed.

"Goodbye." I say to them as I walk out.

"Use a condom!" Nick shouted. I flip him off before closing the door behind me.

When I got into the elevator, I sent Adam a text saying I was on my way down.

Once I got to the parking garage, I spotted his car right at the front waiting for me. He sees me through the window and unlocks the door with a smile on his face.

"Madison Butera. You get more and more gorgeous every time I see you." Adam compliments as I get into his car.

"You think so?" I ask, another question popping into my mind. "Be honest. What do you think of my outfit?"

He scanned my body for a moment before nodding in approval. "It's very nice. Definite upgrade from sweats and a hoodie." He teased.

I roll my eyes playfully. "That's what I told Riley."

He smiled before putting the car in drive. "Why do you ask?"

"Riley told me my outfit was not appropriate enough for going out on a lunch date." I answered.

"Tell her that I said even in sweats and a hoodie, you look beautiful." He replied, keeping his eyes on the road.

"Okay, now you are just exaggerating." I chuckled. I can't wait to rub this in her face later.

The rest of the ride was us listening to music on the radio and making small talk until we arrived at the brunch cafe of our choice. Once we were sitting, we started talking again.

"So, what's new with you?" I asked him, taking a sip of my water.

He took a deep breath before blowing air out of his mouth dramatically. "Other than passing most of my mid-terms I'd say nothing is new. What about you?"

"Nothing at all. I have no training and no interviews so I've been in my apartment doing absolutely nothing for the past couple weeks." I tell him before remembering "oh! Anna had her baby."

"She did? Is it a girl or a boy?" He asked, playing with the napkin in front of him.

"It's a girl. Her and Brandon decided on my Nonna's name, Aurora."

"That's cute."

"I know, but oh my god, the birth was so fucking scary." I breathed though a chuckle.

His eyebrows raised and his eyes widened. "You were there?"

"Um, yes! Two hours after Brandon left for his work trip, Anna's water broke so I asked my friend who lives in the building to drive us to the hospital. She was in labor for nearly three hours." I explained to him, leaving out the unimportant detail that my neighbor was also my ex.

"Wow. I can imagine you freaking out." He chuckled, making me pout.

"Hey, it's not funny. I was genuinely terrified when her water broke."

"I'm sorry. You're right. It's not funny." He said, putting his hand over his mouth as he stifled another laugh.

After the waitress came and took our order, we jumped right back into our conversation.

"Quick question." I started, taking a sip of my water.

"Ask away."

"You like Nick, right?"

"Of course I do. That guy is hilarious. Why?" He questioned, leaning forwards with his arms crossed on the table.

"Every guy I've dated - well, all besides one - had a problem with how close Nick and I are. I just wanted to make sure that it doesn't bother you." I spoke quietly, feeling stupid for having to even ask him this.

"Oh, no it doesn't bother me at all. I mean, you've known each other your whole lives so of course you are going to be really close. Not to mention you work together." He answered, which was extremely relieving.

"Okay, good." I smiled in relief.

"Yeah. Don't worry about that. I like Nick almost as much as I like you." He grinned, and hearing him say he liked me made my heart get caught in my throat. "I think it's a bit silly for people to not date you just because your best friend is a guy. It just shows they are insecure."

"Exactly." I agreed.

"Who was the one guy that didn't have a problem with him?" He asked casually, smiling up at the waitress when our food was brought to our table and set down in front of us. We thanked her and she walked away.

"My last boyfriend was the only boyfriend that got along great with Nick. We were together for over a year, but we broke up three years ago because he had to move." I tell him, debating whether or not I should continue. "I'm going to tell you something you probably will not expect. Ready?"

"Very ready." He nodded, looking pretty confident.

I take a long, deep breath before looking straight at him. "He moved back here last month, and we are sort of friends now. He's actually the friend that drove Anna and I to the hospital."

The information did not seem to bother him at all. He was surprised, but it didn't upset him, which made me feel a lot better.

"That's nice of him. I was in a situation sort of similar the year I met you. I was dating this girl for a while, but then she moved to New York for an internship. We are still good friends though."

After hearing that story, I felt a huge weight lift off of my shoulders. "As weird as this is gonna sound, I am so happy you said that. I thought you'd think it was weird I'm friends with my ex."

"Not at all. It's only weird if you make it weird."

"I say that too!" I exclaimed, the both of us laughing at my reaction.

The rest of the days went pretty smoothly while we ate our food. After he paid for our meals, he drove me back to my apartment and walked me through the lobby.

"Well, this was most certainly the best date I've ever been on in a while." He sighs happily, keeping our hands together as we approached the elevators. "I had fun."

"Me too." I smiled in agreement, the both of us coming to a stop.

"How would you rate it out of ten?" He asked, a hint of humor in his voice.

I pretended to think for a moment before answering. "I'd rate it a ten."

"Really?" He cocked a brow and wrapped his arms around my waist. I pushed down and thoughts of Harry and slid my arms around Adam's shoulders, looking up at him. "So what you're saying is, you'd do this again?"

"Depends. Do I get to pay next time?" I asked, feeling my heart rate pick up when his eyes flickered to my lips then back up into mine.

"If that's what it takes to go out with you again, then yes." He grins, lowering his head until our noses barely touched. "Can I kiss you?"

"I don't normally kiss on the first date, but I'll make the exception." I teasingly respond.

"I feel special." He whispered before closing the gap between us. His lips were warm and soft, and it definitely felt weird kissing someone since it's been a while, but I liked it a lot more than I thought I would.

I smiled against his lips as I pulled him closer, relishing in the kiss for as long as I could. My fingers traced the light stubble on his jaw, and he hummed.

As amazing as kissing him felt, it also didn't feel right. I liked Adam a lot, and I wanted to be more attracted to him, but I just couldn't lead him on like that when I wasn't sure what I was feeling, so I pulled back from him with an apologetic look on my face. "Wait."

"Did I bite your lip? I'm so sorry, I didn't -"

"No, it's not you." I sighed, putting my face into my hands. "Trust me, I really really like you, and you are literally the entire package deal..."

"Oh no. There's a but, isn't there?"

I smiled sympathetically. "I'm sorry. I thought I'd be ready to get in to something, but I'm not. I wish I was, though, because you are an amazing guy. I just...don't want to lead you on."

Expecting him to be mad, I was shocked when he smiled and cupped my face gently. "Maddie, it's okay."

"Really?"

"Yes. I appreciate your honestly. It's completely normal to go on a date with someone you like and then realize you aren't ready."

"You're too nice to me." I exhaled deeply, making him let out a hearty chuckle.

"I know what you are feeling, trust me. A while ago, I went on my first date since my breakup, and the girl was absolutely amazing, but I rejected her. You know why?" He asked before continuing. "I was absolutely terrified because I knew deep down I wasn't completely over my ex, and it felt wrong of me to go out and date someone new."

"As much as I wish you are wrong, you're right." I responded in annoyance with myself. "You know, he even told me I should go on this date with you?"

"He was probably just saying that because he didn't want you knowing that it hurt him to think you were moving on." He answered, which caught me off guard because it did make sense.

"I hate this. It's been three years but I feel like I'll never be ready to move on from him." I groaned in frustration.

"You'll figure it out eventually." He smiled, caressing my cheek with his thumb.

"Thank you." I smiled weakly. "So...friends?"

He nodded with a quiet laugh before pulling me into a tight hug. "Always."

I exhaled in relief to know that things were going to be fine between us. I don't know what I would do if I lost Adam as a friend.

"Bye, Adam."

"Bye, Mads." He smiled, walking in the opposite direction after pressing on the elevator button going up.

I took the elevator up to Riley's floor, feeling a little sad, but ecstatic at the same time.

"I'm baaack." I sang as I walked into Riley's apartment, seeing everyone exactly where I left them - in the living room.

Nick and Riley were the only ones to jump from the couch and race their way over to me, tripping each other in the process.

"How was it? Did you kiss?" Riley asked excitedly.

Before I can even answer, I guess my faded lipstick gave it away because Nick pointed at my lips.

"Hah! You owe me ten." Nick laughed in her face as Riley frowned and dragged herself back to the living room. Nick threw his arm around my shoulder and brought me towards everyone else while I checked my phone camera to see my lipstick was, in fact, a little faded. I cleaned it up with my finger before turning my phone off.

"Okay fine, we kissed a little." I admitted, but continued before anyone can make a comment. "But we both agreed that it's best for us to stay friends."

"Aw. You two would have been cute." Riley frowned, and I cowered understand Harry's gaze because I can easily tell he was a little upset about the fact that I kissed Adam.

"Also, he saw nothing wrong with my outfit. He actually liked it." I bragged to Riley, showing that what I wore didn't matter. It's not like I was trying to impress Adam so I didn't feel the need to dress up.

"Yeah yeah." She grumbled, sitting on the couch across from me.

"As much as I would like to hear about your anti-climactic date, I have some news." Nick announced, pushing me down onto the couch next to Harry with so much force, I almost ended up on top of him.

"Natalie broke up with her boyfriend and is currently crying her eyes out!" Nick says with a little too much enthusiasm.

Harry leans over and whispers in my ear. "Who's Natalie?"

I turn my head, my throat becoming dry when his lips were centimetres from mine. "His roommate." I answered plainly, turning back around so fast I almost got whip lash.

"Why do you sound happy about that?" Riley asked him in a concerned manner.

"He's had a crush on her for months." I tell her, standing up from the couch and mimicking Nick's actions by shoving him onto the couch and pointing a finger at him. "Do not do something stupid. She's very vulnerable and I don't need her to call and tell me that you tried sleeping with her."

Nick put his hands up defensively. "I am not going to do anything like that! I was just gonna comfort her until she falls in love with me for being the sweet, caring, loving man that I am."

"Yeah, okay." I snorted.

Nick pretended to be offended by putting his hand to his chest. "You don't think I'm a sweet, caring, loving man?"

"I think you are a cocky, clumsy, annoying little piece of shit."

He scrunched his face up. "I'm wounded that you think that low of me. I'm not even clumsy!"

"Tell that to the knee you injured three years ago." I countered jokingly, shutting him up quickly. "Exactly."

"Damn. Love you too." He mumbled.

"I wouldn't be a bitch to you if I didn't love you."

He rolls his eyes jokingly and sighs dramatically. "Yeah, I know."

• • •