Chapter 260

I set out to show Julian what having a real girlfriend should be like as soon as I could, so early the next morning, I dressed in my cutest sundress and showed up to his door with a basket of fresh bread I plucked straight from the kitchen. It was still warm.

I knocked on his door. Brian opened it, and his eye twitched in what I assumed was surprise. It was the most emotion I had ever seen out of him.

“Is Julian awake yet?” I asked.

“He’s getting dressed,” Brian said. Before I could ask to come in, Brian stepped back and let me inside the room.

I stood just inside the door in Julian’s sitting room. Brian glanced at me again, before disappearing into what must have been the bedroom. A moment later, Julian himself came bursting out.

“Piper? To what do I owe the pleasure?”

I held out the basket. “I thought we could spend some time together today.”

He walked closer, glanced into the basket, and then snatched a handful of the bread. He bit into it, chewed, and swallowed.

The show was in two days, and with our final dress-rehearsal tomorrow, Bridget personally requested that everyone take it easy today. It had been some time since we had a day without practice or some other event, so it seemed the perfect time to have a date with Julian.

“Is this part of your elaborate plan to prove something to me?” Julian asked.

“Yes,” I said. There was no reason to hide it. I’d been upfront from the start. Might as well continue to be, I reasoned.

Julian tilted his head. “You don’t have to do this.”

“No, I’m definitely doing this,” I said. “We’re friends, and I won’t rest until you recognize how important you are and how much you deserve.”

Julian huffed out a laugh as he rolled his eyes. “You are stubborn.”

And just like that he was convinced to spend time with me.

“Let’s take a walk in the garden,” I said. “It’s a beautiful day.”

Since Bridget had been brought into the competition, a lot of the protesting had dwindled. There were still a few hardy regulars, but for the most part, the biggest danger had passed. At least from what I could tell.

I was sure some tension still simmered under the surface, but everyone seemed distracted now. The competition was once again serving its true purpose, captivating the kingdom.

“Alright,” Julian said. I took his hand in mine. He smirked a little and squeezed my fingers.

Together, we walked down the hallway to the stairs, then down the stairs to the doorway to the gardens. Since it was our day off, there were other girls out there taking walks, though no one seemed to pay Julian and I any attention. We wouldn’t stand out. After all, we were supposed to be dating.

As we walked, we talked about this and that. Julian and I already got along very well, so it didn’t take much for us to have an enjoyable time in each other’s company.

We stopped to smell some of the flowers. When I leaned closer, I inhaled a nose full of pollen and sneezed so loudly, I drew everyone’s attention from the rest of the garden.

Julian tried his hardest not to laugh – for all of two seconds. Then he burst out laughing.

Eventually, we stopped at a small rod-iron table to rest. Julian produced a deck of cards. “How about a game?” he asked, and proceeded to try to teach me how to play poker.

I started off strong, winning by just sheer luck, yet the longer the game continued, the worse I became. No matter how many tricks Julian showed me, I still couldn’t make the cards talk like he could. I didn’t have it in me to be embarrassed though, not with the boisterous way Julian was laughing.

“Maybe we should try a different game,” Julian said. “Something easier.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“Go fish,” he said, and we both laughed. A game for children might have been more fitting, honestly. At least then, I might have stood a chance. I had no proof but I had a feeling, just knowing Julian, that he had been counting cards at poker.

As he started to deal for our competitive game of go fish, I said to him, “See this is how it should be.”

He side-eyed me. “How do you mean?”

“Easy. Being with the person meant for you should be easy, just like this. Fun and silly. Full of more laughter than heartache.”

Julian hummed as he set down the deck. I checked my cards. I had a truly lousy hand. Looked like I was going to lose at go fish too as badly as poker. Julian would never let me live it down.

“Does Bridget play cards?” I asked.

Julian’s smile twitched downward, just a hair. “I’m not sure.” He placed down two matching cards. He was already ahead of me. Of course.

Julian obviously enjoyed playing cards. It seemed unfair that he had no idea if the person he thought was his true love even liked it.

I was enjoying it myself, though admittedly, I wasn’t any good. But this was another point I wanted to prove. The right person for him would try to learn his favorite games, just because he liked them. She would want to try just to spend time at his side.

I wished I could make him see, but the longer we spent together, the more I wasn’t sure if any of my lessons were being learned. He seemed so entrenched with his feelings for Bridget, like he’d harbored them so long, he had no idea how else to be.

As we continued to play, and Julian continued to beat me at cards, I noticed Nicholas walk out into the garden. His gaze cast over the flowers and the fields before he spotted me and Julian at our small two person table. We were both leaning over the table, far into each other’s personal space.

Part of my lesson in how a girlfriend should act included being more touchy feely. I had been making efforts to touch his arm or his hand, to lean into him. Even now, my leg pressed against his under the table from knee to ankle.

“Nicholas is watching us,” Julian said. He plucked a card from the pile, then dropped three three’s. “He looks rather annoyed at our closeness.”

“Let him look,” I said, huffier than I meant. “Today isn’t about him.”

“It’s about us?” Julian asked.

“It’s about you,” I said. I didn’t know why it was so important to me to save Julian from his unrequited romance. Maybe it was because we had gotten to be such good friends. Maybe it was because, unlike me and my feelings for Nicholas, Julian had a chance to be free of his love and live his best life.

“He looks like he’s about to come over,” Julian said.

I glanced up in time to see Nicholas step forward. My breath caught in my throat. What would he even say? Would he try to split up Julian and I? Would he want to sneak me away to some closet for a secret tryst?

I didn’t know what I expected, or what I wanted.

But then Bridget appeared behind him and grabbed his arm, stopping him. She gave him her high-beam smile and thoroughly distracted him. As she pulled him away, Nicholas didn’t even glance back.

My heart sunk down as my disappointment surged.

Julian, watching me, asked, “Isn’t love supposed to be easy?”