All Chapters of Girl Crush: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

A week later, I got a text from Beck that Collier had offered her a job at West Enterprise. Her excitement came through loud and clear, as did her gratitude for calming her brother down and getting him to be reasonable. We hadn't talked about anything I'd said to him when I'd gone back outside. They didn't ask where I'd been or what I'd been doing, and I didn't offer. West had steered clear of the group while we were there, and I hadn't gotten any sobbing phone calls, so I'd assumed Beck had been allowed to live another day.It made my heart happy that he'd taken my suggestion...now I just hoped it didn't backfire. I told Beck she had to take it seriously and not make her brother regret the decision. But, I got the impression she was anxious to please him and show him she would rise to the challenge. It helped both of them in the long run: he got her stable and relinquished her financial need for him while giving her something to feel good about, and it would help her get back to her

I didn't know why I had agreed to go. Something warned me off, pushed meeting Heather to the side for weeks. But when she got upset and blamed herself, I couldn't avoid it any longer. I should have just told her I wasn't feeling the whole panty prowling, but instead, I'd allowed her to guilt me into getting together. She wanted me to pick her up and to do the formal ring the bell thing. Heather expected to be wooed like a lady, which was fine for someone who wanted to woo, but I'd always been wooed and wasn't into wooing anyone else-male or female. I'd struggled from the word go with who was the male and who was the female in these relationships, but after tonight, it dawned on me-there wasn't supposed to be a male. That's what made it a lesbian couple, and since both of us had been in heterosexual relationships, we both maintained the expectation that the other should be the masculine figure while we maintained the female dynamic. It was doomed before I ever arrived at her doorstep

The next few days were spent in isolation. I couldn't bring myself to tell Ronnie about my latest fail and couldn't move on without talking about it. My entire clan was now comprised of full-blown sugar-hole lovers, none of who would understand. The only other person I talked to these days was Collier. I'd tried to let the whole panty debacle go but couldn't seem to rid my mind of the dating fails. Three glasses of wine in, I took the plunge.Me: You busy?Collier: Just working. You?Me: At home getting cozy with a bottle of vino.Collier: You guys good friends?Me: Far better than I wish we were.Collier: You okay?I wasn't, but admitting that would open up a whole can of worms I wasn't sure I was prepared to eat.Me: Yeah.Several minutes passed between texts. I typed out a message, then erased it, then typed another one, erased. Overthinking things wasn't my specialty, which was what landed me here in the first place. Had I bothered to consider anything Ronnie had

The car show was enormous. Rows and rows of cars lined the field with hoods propped up, doors open to expose the interiors, and proud owners lingering to answer questions. Some of the vehicles were for sale, but the number of zeros after those dollar signs exceeded my financial possibilities. When we reached the Mustangs, my heart tried to explode. The excitement for old cars was ridiculous. "Giselle?" I swung my head around, meeting Collier's eyes. "Yeah?""What do you think?"I couldn't stop the gush. "I'm enamored. I could spend hours staring at these cars. My dad would be in heaven. I love seeing the ones that have been restored to their original condition. Most restoration jobs fail in the paint job."He stared at me like I had three heads just before he started laughing. "Really? Do tell.""There were limited colors in the fifties and sixties, and the pearl and metallic didn't exist. It makes me sad to see flawless restorations with a mirrored exterior or some equal

An obnoxious driver cut me off once we were moving, and I cursed like the man could hear me, successfully derailing the conversation at hand...even if it was unintentional. Collier laughed at my outburst and started chatting about different cars we'd seen. The tension I was afraid would consume us washed away as quickly as I'd been cut off. As he yammered on about anything that crossed his mind, my thoughts wavered between the Collier I knew as Beck's brother and the one I found myself increasingly attracted to. He was fast becoming a friend I wasn't willing to sacrifice to the dating game, but I worried about my ability to set those feelings aside in favor of something platonic. I'd never had a male friend and hadn't wanted any, but the more thought I put into this, the more tense I became. "Giselle?" We'd stopped in front of my house, and Collier leaned into the car while standing in the driveway. I remained lost in thought until he said my name louder."Giselle? You okay?" C