“My love for you knows no bounds,” I said. “Now, which one?”

She eyed me then the clothes. “Is it a date?”

I groaned. “No. Friends.”

“Does he know that?”

“Yes, and he’s the one who reiterated this is a friend thing.”

“I like him.”

“Me, too.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them, and that familiar icy fear did everything to rob me of the warmth thoughts of Dean created.

Mom rubbed my spine, her eyes on mine, catching every emotion as they soared across my face.

“They’re not all assholes,” she said. “But you can not date as long as you want.” She sighed. “Just don’t let one jerk ruin something special for you.” She pulled me into a side hug. “He doesn’t deserve the energy you use to keep those walls up, Amber.”

I know.

But that didn’t stop me from reinforcing them for fear of it ever happening again.

Her words sank deep into my mind. Am I letting Brandon rob me of something with Dean? Does Dean even think of me like that?

He’d said before that he didn’t have time for a relationship, either, but the way he teased me, almost flirted with me…

“This one.” Mom pointed to the lavender V-neck T-shirt and skinny jeans. “It’ll go great with the light purple Converse in your closet.”

“Nice point,” I said. “Thanks, Mom.”

“That’s what I’m here for.” She smiled, heading toward my door. “Amber,” she added.

“Yeah?”

“Think about what I said, okay? Have fun tonight, and do what you want to do. Don’t let anything else hold you back.”

I forced out a laugh. “It’s just a friend thing. So, I’m sure I’ll have fun.”

Without the pressure of it being a date, how could I not?

“He picking you up?”

I nodded.

“Didn’t you meet Dean online?”

I tilted my head.

“You skipped across his game or something?”

I chuckled. “I stumbled across his server the first week freshman year, yes.”

“Quite the meet-cute,” she said, waggling her brows. “Oh my God, what if he shows up with a bouquet of flash drives or external hard drives or something other than flowers?”

I rolled my eyes. “Mom, this isn’t one of those rom-coms you love.”

She held her side from laughing, finally taking a breath.

“Okay, okay,” she said, tapping my door. “You know the code word. Text me if you need me to call you with an excuse to leave.”