Letting My Brother's Best Friend Take My V-Card

MOVING ON?

The apartment felt bigger when Asha wasn't in it. Too quiet. Too empty.

I ran a hand through my hair and exhaled slowly, staring at my phone. Jess had sent a picture an hour ago-Asha sitting between her cousins at a kids' museum, her blonde curls sticking up from static electricity as she pressed her hands to a plasma globe. She looked happy. Excited. Carefree. That should have made me feel better. Instead, it just reminded me how much I hated being away from her.

I tossed my phone onto the couch and paced the length of the living room. I had an entire weekend to myself for the first time in what felt like forever, and I had no idea what to do with it.

Go out? No. That wasn't my scene anymore.

Stay in? Even worse.

Sleep? Wishful thinking.

I glanced toward the kitchen, my stomach twisting. I could cook something. Have a drink. And maybe-

I stopped short. My gaze landed on my phone again. The thought had been hovering at the back of my mind all damn day, and now it had settled there, stubborn and persistent.

Vivien.

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MOVING ON?

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What the fuck was I thinking?

I'd been avoiding her since... Since that night. It hadn't been anything, not really-just dinner, just talking, just something that had made me feel lighter for the first time in a long time. And maybe that was the problem

I'd spent months focused on getting Laura into the Germany program. And now? Now, the doctors had given me the kind of update that felt like a gut punch. No improvement. No change. No real hope. Laura was still breathing. Still existing. But the woman I loved? The woman I married?

She wasn't coming back.

And yet, the idea of moving forward-of stepping toward something new-felt impossible.

picked up my phone before I could talk myself out of it. My thumb hovered over Vivien's name.

What the hell was I even going to say?

Hey, want to come over?

For what? A date? A distraction?

Jesus. I was a mess.

my head, and

Josh:

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Hey.

was it. That was all I

dots appeared almost immediately, then

of my neck, suddenly regretting this

Then-

Vivien:

Hey yourself.

stared at the screen, my heart pounding harder than it

could

Or-

Josh:

Dinner?

This time, they didn't

through, I exhaled, my grip tightening around

Vivien:

I'd like that.

Fuck.

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MOVING ON?

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So would I.

at Vivien's text, my thumb hesitating over the

Josh:

you in an

No overthinking. No unnecessary

second-guess myself, I fired off another text to

yet, my heart was still hammering in my chest like I was about to walk into a championship game

Nerves. That was fine. I could

to be

and hit Luke's name. He picked up on the

he answered, voice distracted.

is insane, right?" I asked

a pause, then, "I'm gonna need more context,

sharply. "I just asked

of

"Like a date?"

hand down my face. "I don't fucking know, man. I

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MOVING ON?

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yes. And now I feel like an idiot for