Grant went in front of the door. "I don't treat you like my little sister. I'm protective of you."

I stopped. "I like that, your explanation sounds much better."

He smiled. "Yeah, otherwise I slept with someone who I consider to be my sister."

"That'd be weird." I agreed.

His eyes shifted, which was a telltale sign that he's debating something. "Look, I was thinking. I want you and Trisha to get along. It's going to be hard to date someone who doesn't get along with you. I wouldn't be able to."

"That's true. It'd be difficult." I agreed, not sure what I was agreeing to.

He moved out from in front of the door. "She's coming here tomorrow. What if you come too? We could all hang out."

I nearly tripped over myself. "You want me to hang out with you and your girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend, not until I know you are okay with her. But yes, I'd like you to hang out with us. You don't have to stay long, just until you guys are comfortable with each other." His eyes pleaded with me.

I attempted to pull down my crop top to no avail. "Okay, text me when." I spoke as casually as I could.

Obviously, no part of me wanted to do this. It was a terrible idea, which Grant had a talent for coming up with. This was important to him, so I would suffer through it. It was going to take a lot of mental preparation to get me through this. I hated lying to Grant, but I decided even if I couldn't stand her (which was likely) I would give him my blessing. I've learned that separation only makes the heart grow fonder. I couldn't be responsible for igniting their flames anymore than they already were. I would make it easy for them to get together and be supportive. It's a great thing I want to be an actor. I'd had a few small roles in commercials and as an extra in a few films, but I had much higher hopes. My dream is to star in a soap opera. I'd settle for having a lead role in pretty much anything at this point though. I rarely talked about this dream of mine; it was a bit unconventional.

Grant hugged me. "Thank you!" After a minute, he moved back wide-eyed. "You're still half-naked. Sorry."

I dismissed his concern with a wave. "You've touched me with a lot less clothes than this."

"Says the one who hid her face while I got changed."

I shook my head. "That was different, I didn't have any clothes on at the time."

He met my eyes, chuckling. "What does that mean?"

"It means that I was trying not to make things hard." I said exhaling dramatically.

More chuckling. "That could be taken so wrong."

I hit him. "You know what I meant!"

"Yeah, both interpretations would make sense."

I gave up fighting. "Regardless, circumstances were different."

"They were."

I reached for the door handle. "I'll get out of your hair. See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow Rinnie."

I walked out of the shack, doing my best to keep my composure. Spending time with Grant was becoming increasingly taxing. It took a lot of effort to keep emotions in. I didn't even do a good job of it and I was exhausted. I'd meet Grant tomorrow, best intentions in mind. For now, I craved some much-needed girl time. I texted Vanessa and asked her to meet up with me.

Vanessa walked in with a latte and designer sunglasses. "Hey girl!" She pulled me into an embrace.

"Hey! Thanks for coming." I smiled and sat back down in the cushiony salon chair.

"You know I never miss a good mani-pedi." She removed her shoes and descended her feet into the warm bubbling water.

I leaned back, relaxed. "What's up with the shades?"

She lifted her sunglasses, exposing the dark circles under her eyes. "Hangover."

"Ahh, I see." I said, understanding it was her way of coping at the moment. The whole Alec thing was getting to her.

Vanessa turned to me, and spoke in a 'way to loud to be a whisper' whisper. "How are you doing with the whole having feelings for Grant thing?"

I couldn't help but laugh a little at her bluntness. "I don't know. We remodeled his room this morning. Nothing happened, but what happened between us did come up."

She sat up, forgetting about her hangover. "It came up? How?"

"First, I found women's panties in his bathroom and he told me he didn't sleep with the girl. He said he couldn't because it was too soon after me. Then, he told me he didn't treat me like his little sister. He joked and said that would mean he slept with someone he compared to a little sister. Oh yeah, I almost forgot it came up one more time. He said he felt bad touching me in a crop top and booty shorts, but the man literally mocked me for not watching him change."

She put her hand up. "Before we discuss the amount of times you guys are talking about hooking up, I have to ask. Why were you in booty shorts and a crop top?"

When she put it like that, I felt embarrassed. "I wanted to show him that he treats me like his little sister. I knew he wouldn't let me go out like that."

"Oh Zephyrine." She leaned back. "You guys have been bringing up what happened way more than you should."

"I know, I don't know why it's been so challenging."

"You guys want to talk about it. It was a good memory. People like to talk about good memories."

What she said made sense. "Yeah. I'll just have to keep working on it."

"Practice makes perfect." She jerked when she remembered. "Sorry, my brain's a little behind today. Did you say you found woman's panties in his bathroom?"

I found it kind of funny that the women doing our mani-pedi's didn't even flinch at our conversation. They were probably used to it at this point.

I played with the end of my dress. "Yeah. It was so weird."

"Who's were they?"

"His ex."

"Shut up! Grant had an ex over? He never does that! Shown me a picture of her this instant!"

I nodded. "I know! I couldn't believe it either. He asked me to come over tomorrow and hang out with the two of them." I scrolled through my phone and showed her a picture of Trisha.

Her mouth gaped. "What?! Has he lost his mind? What'd you say?" She took my phone and zoomed in and nearly dropped it. "Why does she look like a clone of that b***h Phoebe, the middle school principal's daughter? That's so disturbing."

"He had to of, that's the only way it would've seemed like a good idea in his head." I threw my hands in the air, frustrated. "Oh my gosh she does! I knew she looked familiar!"

She stared at me, dumbfounded. "You agreed?"

I sighed. "It's really important to him. He likes her a lot. I don't want to get in the way of his happiness."

"It's so cute how much you guys care about each other."

I smiled. "I care about you too. So, how are you doing with the whole having feelings for Alec thing?"

"We've been texting a lot. He told me something totally crazy. I'm not sure if you know."

I squinted at her. "Oh yeah? What's that?"

"I'm not supposed to tell you." In her lingo that meant she was going to tell me. She paused dramatically. "Well, you know how we all thought Aiden had a crush on you?"

"No..." I had no idea what she was talking about.

Vanessa ignored me and went on. "It turns out that he isn't the one who has a crush on you."

I was lost. Vanessa loved to amp all of her stories up. "What do you mean?"

"Well, apparently the twins' friend is into you. Aiden's been trying to be his wing man. "

I wasn't sure I wanted the answer to the question she was dying for me to ask. "Who's their friend?" I wasn't able to ruin Vanessa's excitement.

Her eyes were shining. "Liam Brady. The quarterback Liam. The totally hot, sweet, funny Liam Brady."

"No way that's true Ness." Part of me wanted it to be though. Liam played quarterback on our college football team. I'd only spoken to him a handful of times. He seemed nice, but I never felt like he was into me the slightest bit.

"It's true, he told me himself."