Chapter 2

I stared at my phone screen until the words started blurring.

Can't wait to see you! And maybe meet this new guy you're obviously hiding from me 😉

The same pattern. It was always the same pattern.

I closed my eyes and let myself remember. College, freshman year. His name was Jake Morrison, and he was everything eighteen-year-old me thought I wanted. Captain of the lacrosse team, business major, smiled at me in Intro to Psychology.

"Lia, you have to introduce me!" Sera had said, bouncing on our dorm room bed like an excited puppy. "He's so cute! And you guys would be perfect together!"

But three weeks later, Jake was knocking on our door asking for Sera instead of me.

"I'm just testing him for you," she'd explained, applying lipgloss in our shared mirror. "If he really cares about you, he won't be interested in me, right?"

Jake failed the test. They all did.

There was Marcus, the sweet guy from my literature class who wrote me poems. Sera tested him too. Apparently poetry didn't make you immune to her.

Then David, who I met at the campus coffee shop. He lasted two whole dates before Sera decided he needed testing.

By senior year, I'd stopped introducing her to anyone. But somehow she always found out anyway.

"You can't hide from me forever, Lia," she'd tease. "I'm your roommate! I see everything!"

And she did. She saw how nervous I got when that guy from my statistics study group started walking me to class. She noticed when the TA from my internship started staying after to chat with me.

Six guys in four years. Six "tests." Six failures.

"I'm doing this for your own good," she'd say each time, usually while getting ready for another date with my latest ex. "You don't want to end up with someone who doesn't really love you, do you?"

The worst part? I started believing her.

Maybe I really was unlovable. Maybe Sera was just showing me the truth about these guys. Maybe I should be grateful she cared enough to save me from heartbreak.

After graduation, I thought things would be different. We got an apartment together, but I had my own job, my own life. I could date without her knowing every detail.

I was wrong.

Tom from my first job lasted three months before Sera "accidentally" ran into us at dinner. Two weeks later, he was asking for her number.

"I can't help it if he realized you two weren't compatible," she'd said, not looking up from her phone as she texted him back. "I mean, you barely had anything to talk about anyway."

Then there was Daniel from my yoga class. Sera had never shown any interest in yoga before, but suddenly she needed to "get in shape" and needed me to bring her as a guest.

"You don't mind, do you, Lia? It's just one class."

One class turned into a membership. A membership turned into Daniel asking her out instead of me.

"Honestly, Lia, you're lucky," she'd said, painting her nails on our couch while I sat there trying not to cry. "He was way too intense about that whole spiritual wellness thing. You would have been bored in a month."

Eight times. Eight guys who couldn't pass Sera's test.

And now she was back.

The café downstairs from my office was busy at 4 PM. I spotted Sera immediately. She was hard to miss with her long black hair and that way she had of making every outfit look like it belonged in a magazine.

She waved me over to a corner table, already holding what looked like an iced vanilla latte. Her usual.

"Lia!" She jumped up and hugged me like we were long-lost sisters instead of roommates who'd talked three months ago. "You look amazing! That color is perfect on you."

I looked down at my plain blue blouse. The same blue blouse I'd worn to work dozens of times. "Thanks. You look good too."

And she did. She always did. That was the problem.

"So," she said, settling back into her chair with that smile that used to make me feel like we were conspirators instead of giving me anxiety attacks. "Tell me everything. How's work? How's life? Are you seeing anyone?"

There it was. The question I'd been dreading since I got her text.

"Work's fine," I said, stirring my coffee even though I hadn't added anything to it. "Busy, you know."

"And the dating situation?" She leaned forward, eyes bright with curiosity. "Come on, I've been gone for three months. There has to be someone."

My mind went straight to Ryan. To the way he'd looked at me this morning. To the moment we'd almost shared before her text ruined everything.

"Not really," I heard myself say. "I've been focused on work."

It wasn't technically a lie. I had been focused on work. Just not only work.

"Really?" Sera tilted her head, studying my face like she was reading a book. "Because you have that glow. You know, the glow women get when there's someone special."

My cheeks got hot. "I don't have a glow."

"You totally do! Come on, spill. Is he cute? What does he do? How long have you been hiding him from me?"

The accusation in her voice was playful, but I caught the edge underneath. Sera didn't like being left out of anything, especially anything involving me and men.

"There's no one, Sera. I promise."

She stared at me for a long moment, her eyes searching my face like she was trying to catch me in a lie.

"Really? Nothing at all? Not even a little workplace crush?" She leaned back in her chair, looking almost disappointed. "That's surprising. You usually have someone by now."

The casual way she said it made my chest tight. Like I was predictable. Like my feelings were just entertainment for her.

"Well, that's probably for the best anyway," she continued with that sweet smile that never reached her eyes. "You know how terrible your taste in men is. Remember Daniel? And that weird poetry guy?"

Each name was like a little stab. The casual cruelty of it hit me like it always did. Sera had this way of saying horrible things with such a loving tone that you almost didn't notice the knife going in.

"There's really no one," I said again, hating how defensive I sounded.

"If you say so." But her eyes were still scanning my face, looking for cracks in my story.

I was still trying to think of something to say when I saw Sera's expression change. Her eyes had shifted to something behind me, and that predatory smile I knew so well was starting to form.

"Lia, who is that incredibly handsome man who's been looking in our direction?"

I turned around slowly, and my heart stopped.

Ryan. Standing near the counter with his own coffee, looking directly at our table.