001

Harper's POV

“Happy birthday, Harper!”

I stopped so abruptly on Ethan's porch that the girl behind me nearly crashed into my back.

For a second, I couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't even process what I was seeing.

The front door to Ethan's off-campus house was wide open with music blasting out. My best color, purple and pink balloons floated near the ceiling with fairy light plastered across the walls and staircase.

A glittering banner hung over the living room archway in pink letters that read: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HARPER.

A whole birthday party for me?

People from Westbrook college— faces I recognized from classes and library, filled the living room and kitchen, smiling, clapping, laughing like this was normal. Like I was the kind of girl people threw parties for.

Like I was someone worth celebrating.

“What…” My voice came out thin and breathless. “What is all this?”

A laugh I knew too well drifted from the kitchen. “Don't tell me you hate it, Quinn?”

My heart betrayed me instantly. I turned, and there he was.

Ethan Reid leaned casually against the kitchen island like he hasn't just rearranged my entire universe.

He was in dark jeans, black gently and his sleeves were pushed up to his forearms. Hair a little messy, like he had been running his dinner through it. That stupid, unfair face— his sharp jaw, crooked smile, brown eyes that could look warm or wicked depending on the angle.

I had spent two years pretending I didn't know exactly how beautiful he was, pretending my pulse didn't skip every time he smiled at me like I was the only person that mattered to him.

It was exhausting, being in love with your best friend. Especially when your best friend looked like ‘that’.

“You…” I looked around again, still dazed. “You did this?”

Ethan pushed off the counter and made his way through the crowd toward me with ease and confidence.

At Westbrook, everyone knew Ethan. Lacrosse captain, legacy boy, the one professors and students usually talk about with joy in their eyes.

And me?

I was Harper Quinn. That quiet, awkward and scholarship girl people only noticed when I scored high grades in class. Except, of course, Ethan who noticed me.

And that was probably where the crush started.

Or maybe it was the first time he sat beside me in lit class and shared his notes when I forgot mine, or the night he walked me back to my dorm in the rain because I didn't have an umbrella, or the way he remembered tiny things about me no one else ever did.

Whatever the reason, somewhere between freshman year and now, I'd gone from ‘grateful he was kind to me’ to ‘hopelessly, humiliatingly in love with him.’

And tonight? When I least expected this, he threw me a birthday party!

No one had ever done that for me before, not even once.

“Of course I did,” he said, stopping in front of me. “You really think I'd let you spend your birthday alone in your dorm with instant noodles and one tragic cupcake?”

A laugh escaped me before I could stop, watery and shaky. “I don't eat instant noodles.”

He lifted a brow, revealing that flirty smirk of his. “You absolutely do.”

“That was one time.”

“That was last week.”

I tried to glare at him and I probably failed because my eyes were already burning which he noticed immediately.

“Oh, no.” He pointed at my face. “Absolutely not.”

“I’m not crying.”

“You’re ‘thinking’ about crying.”

I let out a shaky breath that almost turned into a sob and covered it with another laugh. “You're ridiculous.”

“And you’re welcome.” His teasing softened, just enough for something warm to slip into his expression. “Happy birthday, Harper.”

My throat tightened. “Thank you,” I whispered.

And I meant so much more than that.

Thank you for remembering, thank you for making me feel seen, thank you for making me stupid enough to hope.

Then Ethan did the absolute worst thing possible. He opened his arms and I should have been smarter.

I should have remembered that hugs from Ethan were not safe for me, but he was my best friend, and it was my birthday, and I was already halfway wrecked, so I stepped into him.

His arms wrapped around me, warm, strong and familiar that made my heart squeezed so hard it physically hurt.

Goodness!

This was always the problem. Every tiny thing with Ethan felt bigger than it should because it was ‘Ethan Reid’

A hug from anyone else was just a hug but a hug from Ethan was something I'd replay in bed later like an idiot.

“You deserve a real birthday,” he murmured near my ear and I shut my eyes for one dangerous second.

When he pulled back, his hands lingered softly on my shoulders. “Come on, birthday girl.”

He took my wrist and tugged me into the rest and just like that, the rest of the night felt like every stupid fantasy I'd ever had about Ethan coming true all at once.

He introduced me to everyone, screaming and shouting into everybody's ear that I was his ‘best friend's

It all made my heart flutter, because he remembered everything about me.

The pink roses on the table because they were my favorite flowers. A bowl of strawberry candies by the drinks because I always picked those first.Strawberry lemonade waiting for me because he knew I hated beer.

Even the cake, white frosting, silver stars, pale pink piping, looked like something I would’ve chosen if anyone had ever asked.

No one had ever paid that much attention to me, but Ethan had.

“Come with me,” he whispered into my ears and I raised my face to him.

“Where?”

He tipped his head toward the sliding doors at the back of the house. “Balcony.”

My heartbeat turned traitorous in that instant. “Why?”

A slow smile curved his mouth. “Because I want a minute alone with you.”

He want a minute alone with me?

I could feel my chest rising and falling in anticipation of what he wanted to tell me. “Okay,” I said softly and he took my hand, leading me through the kitchen, and out onto the balcony.

The noise from party dimmed behind us and for the first time all night, it was just us.

I turned to him, my heart pounding so hard I was sure he could hear it.“What did you want to….”

“You look beautiful tonight.”

My lips parted and my eyes widened in disbelief as I stared at him. He didn't have that smirk on and he was just looking at me.

And I had imagined this…God, I had imagined this, so many times lying awake at night that for one dizzy second, I genuinely couldn't believe this was real.

“What?” I whispered, my gaze slowly checking myself out again. I was wearing a pink fluffy gown that fitted well on my slender body and revealed my curves. I had packed my brown curly hair into a ponytail and applied soft gloss because Ethan had called for a date out.

Turns out he wanted to surprise me.

“I mean it, Harper.” His voice dropped, softer than I’d ever heard it. “You do.”

My heart felt like it was splitting open as he stared at me like I was the only thing that mattered in the space.

He stepped closer, lifting a hand to tuck a loose strand of hair behind my ear. His fingers brushed my cheek, causing every nerve in my body to lit up.

“Ethan…”

Before I could finish my statement, I felt something wet on my lips that left me reeling in shock because…Ethan…

He…he kissed me.

The boy I loved in silence for two years kissed me. The boy I had watched flirt with girls I could never compete with, then smiled through it because I was ‘just his friend’. The boy I had wanted so badly kissed me.

He was kissing me, softly, intentionally.

My hands fisted in the front of his shirt as I kissed him back, every hidden feeling I’d buried crashing to the surface all at once. He made a low sound in his throat and one hand slid to my waist, pulling me closer, steadying me when my knees went weak.

He tasted like cola and birthday cake frosting and everything I’d ever wanted.

For one shining, impossible moment, it felt like every stupid, hopeless wish I’d ever made had come true.

And just when I was in another realm with him, a shrill sound cut through the silent moment.

Ethan swore softly and pulled back, his forehead pressing to mine for one breathless second before he reached into his pocket.

“Seriously?” he muttered and I could barely breathe as he glanced at the screen.

For one second, something instantly changed so fast that I almost missed it.

There was tension across his face.“I need to take this,” he said.

I nodded, still floating, still dazed, still trying to understand how I’d gone from the girl with the secret crush to the girl Ethan had just kissed on his balcony.

He brushed his thumb across my cheek.“Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right back.”Then he stepped inside, already lifting the phone to his ear.

I stayed there for a moment, my fingers touching my lips and I couldn’t stop smiling.I was actually smiling like one of those embarrassing girls in rom-coms because Ethan had kissed me.

My Ethan.

Maybe that was why he threw the party. Maybe that was why he’d spent all night looking at me like that.Maybe all this time…

I laughed under my breath, giddy and breathless and so full of hope it almost hurt.

After a fifteen minute wait and staring at the door that led to the balcony to see if he was coming, I pushed open the balcony door and stepped back inside.

My eyes scanned the room until I found him near the fireplace, but the problem? He wasn't alone.

He was standing and smiling with his arm firmly around the waist of a girl I had never seen before. She was stunning, a kind of girl who looked like she’d been filtered for a magazine cover countless times.

She had long, dark hair that fell in perfect waves down her back and a smile that seemed to light up the entire corner of the room

I slowed, a bad feeling sliding down my spine.

Ethan saw me approaching, and for a split second, I could see the tension across his face. He looked like he wanted to bolt, but then he tightened his gun up on the brunette’s waist and pulled her closer to his side, possessively.

"There she is!" Ethan said, his voice sounding forced and a little too loud. "Harper, I was looking for you."

I stared at his arm around her, a frown settling on my face. "I was on the balcony, like you said." I reminded him because he seemed to have suddenly lost his memory.

The brunette turned to look at me, her eyes flicking over me once, my simple dress, my cheap shoes, my still-swollen lips, like she was assessing and dismissing me in the same breath.

“This is Harper Quinn,” Ethan said, avoiding my eyes and I waited. God, I waited with my heart still clinging, stupidly, desperately, to hope.

A cousin? Friend? Teammate's sister? Anything!

“And Harper,” Ethan continued, “this is Madison Pierce.”

The girl beamed at me, reaching out a hand with perfectly manicured nails. "Hi! It's so nice to finally meet you. Ethan talks about you all the time. The 'genius best friend,' he calls you."

I looked at her hand, my heart pounding so hard in my chest that I was sure she could hear it. “Best friend?” I repeated.

"Madison is a junior over at State," Ethan stepped in, his words coming out in a rush. "She’s been away for a clinical rotation the last few months. She actually drove three hours tonight just to surprise me."

He looked down at her with a look of pure, unadulterated adoration, the kind of look I had imagined he was giving me just twenty minutes ago on the balcony.

"We’ve been together six months now," Madison said, leaning her head on his shoulder. "It’s been so hard being apart, but I wouldn't have missed my boyfriend's best friend’s birthday. Happy birthday, by the way.”

My stomach dropped and the world tilted. It sounded like doubles in my ears, like I didn't just hear what she said.

Six months? Boyfriend?

I blinked my eyes repeatedly, trying to get out of the daze.

The kiss on the balcony had been… what? A mistake? A game? A moment of drunken stupidity?

I stared at him, my heart beating, my eyes burning with unshed tears as I waited…waiting for him to say something, to explain, to dispute what the girl had said.

But Ethan just stood there, suddenly looking uncomfortable, while Madison smiled at me like she had no idea she was standing in the ruins of someone’s heart.

“Oh,” I said, and that was it. That pathetic, tiny sound was all I had left in me.

Madison’s smile softened. “Ethan says you two are really close.”

I forced my lips into something that might have looked like a smile if no one stared too hard. “I think I need a drink.”