Chapter 188

The words just kind of slipped out of her. Natalie hadn’t consciously made the decision to ask Jordan out. She hadn’t been planning to hint at her feelings in any way. Her logic from before had hardly changed: it was too risky.

And by how Jordan stiffened underneath her, green eyes going wide, Natalie knew she’d made a mistake. Though she’d known that the moment her mouth had opened. There’d been a reason she had been hiding her crush. Jordan didn’t feel the same way. Or at the very least, Natalie had no clue if she did. They loved each other platonically. The whole ‘breeding sessions every night’ thing was just them having fun.

“I—I mean, like, as friends,” Natalie scrambled to say. “It’s been a while since we’ve gotten to hang out. Everything’s been, you know, Tenet, the dungeon, my class, and so on. I miss hanging out with you. Feels like we haven’t in a while, not like before.”

Jordan didn’t usually guard her expression around Natalie, so seeing her eyes search Natalie’s face, carefully keeping her initial, actual reaction from showing, Natalie’s panic doubled—and hammered home she really had screwed up, diving off the deep end without thinking. Natalie’s request had been too obvious: she’d just straight-up asked Jordan on a date. How was she supposed to wiggle out of that?

Making the situation even worse, they were in a rather compromised position. Entangled. With Natalie still literally inside of Jordan, their sweaty skin pressed into each other’s, and Natalie’s sticky load stuffing her womb—after having gone soft while they rested against each other.

Even if Natalie had planned to ask Jordan on a date, she wouldn’t have done so like this. Not exactly the opportune time, was it?

“A ... friend date,” Jordan asked.

“Yeah.”

“Why call it that, then? A date?”

“Well, because, you know. It’s not just hanging out. Considering our situation, maybe it’d be a bit...”

“Romantic?”

If Natalie could have run away in that moment, she honestly might have. She froze up. It took a second to get her mouth working again.

“I mean, we are sleeping together,” Natalie said, desperately trying to find an excuse. “Obviously, we’re not, like, girlfriends or anything, I know that’s not what we have going on, but I guess a date doesn’t feel ... totally wrong? If you’re okay with it? It’s not weird for friends with benefits to be a little romantic, right?”

Jordan stared at her.

After a long moment, she finally replied.

“I suppose it isn’t,” she said slowly.

Relief washed through Natalie. Jordan had bought that?

Really? Natalie was hardly unused to putting her foot in her mouth, but that had nearly been catastrophic.

“So. Yeah,” Natalie said. “Just a casual thing.”

“Best friends,” Jordan said. “Who sleep with each other and sometimes go on romantic dates. But casually. As friends.”

“Exactly.”

Jordan stared at her before replying. “Okay. Yeah. That sounds great.”

Natalie sighed, her muscles slowly un-tensing. Embarrassingly, she even felt a little shaky, coming down from the adrenaline of the situation. Jordan had bought it? And honestly—it did make some sense, once Natalie thought it over herself.

Though, had there been a hint of dryness in Jordan’s voice? As she repeated the explanation back to Natalie? Natalie supposed it sounded a little silly. But that was because all of this was an atypical situation. Her and Jordan’s circumstances were just a little complicated.

All that really mattered was Natalie hadn’t accidentally ruined everything by admitting her crush. She needed to watch her words more carefully. It was becoming more and more of a problem.

But it had worked.

And now...

Now she got to take Jordan out on a date?

For a second, Natalie’s brain overheated as she came to terms with that. A date. With Jordan. Her best friend. The girl she was grossly in love with. The most amazing woman on the planet.

Oh, no.

She couldn’t wait.

But she was going to fuck it up.

No, as long as she played things cool, it would be fine. This was Jordan. Being around her was as natural as breathing. How could she mess it up?