I Fell For My Nemesis

Chapter 72 - Why Can't It Be Both?

"I've been doing some projects outside of work," Angelo said vaguely. "Nothing exciting. I've been holed up on my computer mostly. What about you?"

Vanessa laughed. "Always working, aren't you? Not that I have any room to talk. I spend all day baking and when I get home I do the same thing half the time. The other half I'm watching TV or drawing. Or drawing while watching TV if it's a fairly mindless show."

He knew she liked to draw because she had a separate Instagram account for her digital art that he followed after she posted about it on her main one. She was quite talented but her true love was pastry so she hadn't gone into it as a career. She occasionally opened her commissions and did requests until she needed a break but that was the extent of it. 

"Been drawing anything interesting?" Angelo asked. 

"I did a commission the other day for some fan art and was so curious after looking it up that I ended up watching it," Vanessa admitted with a sheepish look on her face. "It's an animated kids show but it's surprisingly addictive. I binged all three seasons that are fully out on Netflix. The fourth is airing currently but I have no way to watch it so I'm going to have to wait."

"What is it?"

"I'd rather you not know the full depths of my shame. If I tell you you're going to look it up."

Well, she wasn't wrong. "Fair enough. What about your baking? Any new recipes that have worked out well that you're planning on pitching to Marianne?"

"Actually, yeah. She recently got into the macaron craze and has been experimenting with flavors left and right. I decided to try some too in my free time and they are a LOT harder to make pretty than you would think.

"I've been doing basic flavors out of curiosity but once I get them down I can join her in her quest to come up with the best ones. Do you have any ideas? She's already tried at least fifteen but they're all straightforward fruity or flowery flavors." 

Angelo didn't know much about macarons. Weren't they those colorful little French cookies?

"Uh…I don't really know anything about French cookies. All I can think of are Mexican flavors but I don't know how well that would work." 

Vanessa made a thoughtful expression. "Hmm…maybe something cinnamony? Cinnamon goes well with a lot of things. I'll have to see what I can do once I get the hang of the shell a little better. Or I could just suggest it to her straight out." 

"You could always try to imitate a churro." 

"Ooh! That could be delicious! Man, it's been ages since I've had a churro. I think the last time was at Coney Island a few summers ago. Maybe I should try making those on my own. They sound really good."

Tía Felisa had an amazing churro recipe. Great, now Angelo wanted them too!

"Now I'm craving churros," he moaned. 

Vanessa laughed at his plight. "We could always go get some after this. I'm sure you know the best places around here that sell them."

That he did. He had to get his fix somehow when his tías weren't willing or able to make them for him. 

"Sounds good to me. There's this great place only a few blocks from here."

"Excellent!" 

The conversation ended then because the waiter came to take their orders and afterward the subject changed to the wedding. Angelo felt himself relaxing the way he often did when Vanessa was around. When they weren't bickering, that is. 

That wasn't completely unpleasant though. He liked a good debate now and then. Otherwise things would be too boring. 

He was having a good time on this date that wasn't a date until Vanessa brought up the wedding on the way to the churro place. "Avery looked absolutely beautiful, didn't she? I've never seen her so happy. She and Christian are perfect for each other, don't you think?"

Thankfully, she didn't know about the feud between Angelo and Avery on the subject of her marriage. This subject was touchy enough as is. He needed to act like a best friend was supposed to act. Supportive. 

"It's been a long time since I've seen her like that," he confessed. "I'm glad she found someone who adores her."

That much was true. It was everything else that was the problem. 

"He certainly does. I've never seen someone so devoted. He looks at her like he never wants to look away. Where can I find someone like that?" Vanessa joked. 

Angelo felt slightly uncomfortable. She was a beautiful woman. Finding that shouldn't be hard. Sooner or later someone was going to snap her up and then he would probably never see her again unless Avery was having some sort of big group date. He didn't like the thought of that at all. 

"Are the men you've been seeing blind?" he asked scornfully. 

Vanessa's eyes widened. "What's that supposed to mean? Are you trying to insult them or compliment me?"

"Both, I guess."

"You have a strange way of trying to make someone feel better but I'll take it. Thanks." 

"There's no need to thank me for that," Angelo said, scratching the back of his neck. He probably shouldn't have said anything but he couldn't regret it with how she was smiling at him right now. 

"Yes, there is! Avery says you have impossibly high standards and you basically just said I'm pretty."

He internally cursed her. How could she throw him under the bus like that?! It must have been before she had a suspicion he liked Vanessa. She wouldn't have said such a thing afterward. 

"So what if I did? It's the truth. You're the most beautiful person I know." 

Angelo froze when he realized what he said and so did Vanessa. She looked at him in utter disbelief. "Are you for real?!"

"I wouldn't say something like that just because! Ah, forget it. Let's just get those churros."

They continued their walk in silence but he noticed Vanessa scrutinizing him the entire way and felt distinctly self-conscious. He was an idiot. How could he have said something so mushy out loud? This wasn't supposed to be a real date!

They got their churros and he shoveled his in as quickly as possible in the hopes that he could forget his mortification. Sugar fixed everything according to Avery. It was practically her motto. 

Vanessa ate hers more slowly and when she was done she looked at Angelo the same way she had on the walk here. "Why did you ask me out today?"

"Because it was a better alternative than sitting in front of my computer screen?"

"Why me though?"

"Better someone I know than some crazy stranger from the internet."

Angelo could tell what she was trying to do. She wanted to trap him and get him to admit he liked her. He would never do that in a million years. Not with the high likelihood of it making things awkward between them forever. 

"Come on, I can't be the only woman you know," Vanessa insisted. 

"Only one I know who isn't in a relationship or from work. It's never a good idea to date someone at the office," he said evasively. 

"I'm serious, Angelo! We've doubled with Avery and Christian before but that's only because it was the easy thing to do, right? Is that why you asked me out tonight? Because you wanted a date and I was the most convenient option?"

It would be so easy to say yes. He should say yes and put this behind him. To keep things between them a simple matter of both being best friends with the same person. But it was really hard to force the lie out when she was looking at him so expectantly. Why did she have to look at him like that with those big brown eyes?

"What do you think?" Angelo countered. 

"I don't know what to think, honestly," Vanessa said in frustration. "All this time I thought you only put up with me because of Avery but then you danced with me for over an hour, brought me flowers, and said I'm the most beautiful person you know."

"I never put up with you!" 

Being around Vanessa had never been a chore. Even in the beginning when he didn't know her very well she was easy to be around because she had such a similar sense of humor to Avery. 

"What do you mean you never put up with me? You argue with me all the time!" she cried. 

"What can I say? You're fun to debate with. You get really into it and it's funny," Angelo said with a shrug. "That doesn't mean I put up with you. I put up with my little cousins half the time but never you."

Vanessa narrowed her eyes at him. "So when you hang out with Avery and me is it for her sake or mine?"

"Why can't it be for both? You were her friend first but you're my friend too."

"Friends usually don't call each other beautiful, Angelo." 

"Says the one who called Avery beautiful less than thirty minutes ago," he scoffed without meeting her eyes.. Eye contact now would ruin his nonchalant act.