We head out to one of Piper’s favorite spots. “The best waffles in town, hands down,” she says, leading me into a funky café with a cute back garden area, dotted with colorful art pieces—and not the million-dollar kind. “Once, I bet Dash he couldn’t finish their tall stack in ten minutes,” she adds, as we take a seat at our table. “He just had to prove me wrong.”

“That does sound like Dash,” I agree.

“Of course, he wound up hyped up on syrup, with the worth indigestion for the rest of the day,” she grins. “He never can think things through.”

Like pretending he’s on the brink of proposing to his fake girlfriend.

“So, what about you?” I change the subject away from Dash’s little white lies. “Tell me about your studies.”

We order a feast of waffles and bacon, and Piper chats about her assignments and plans for next spring. “I love learning all the business theories and case studies. Most people go back into the corporate world after, but I had my taste of that after college. No thank you. I want to start my own company,” she says, “I’m just not sure what.”

“Make sure you love it,” I warn her. “Because you’ll be living, breathing, and eating it 24/7 to get things off the ground.”

Piper smiles. “Tell that to Dash. He still pretends it’s all just a hobby he stumbled into.”

“Right,” I roll my eyes. “Because God forbid he break a sweat over anything, and let on that he actually cares.”

The words are out before I realize that they’re not exactly the kind of thing a devoted girlfriend would say, but luckily, Piper is laughing in agreement.

“Right?” she grins. “I swear, he’s too relaxed for his own good. Even if something matters to him, he has to pretend like it’s all one big party. It’s so nice he has you now,” she adds. “To give him a hard time.”

“I definitely do that,” I say slowly—which is true.

“Do you think it’s serious?” she ventures curiously, fixing me with a look over the maple syrup. “I mean, could you see yourself settling down?”

I gulp and take a big bite of waffle to buy myself some time. Fibbing to Zelda is one thing, but Piper is smart, and funny, and nice—I genuinely like her.

Which means lying to her face feels icky on a whole other level.

“I… think that’s up to Dash,” I answer finally. “I’m having a great time, so I’m open to whatever happens.”

There. Tactful and vague, and even true. The perfect combination.

But of course, Piper doesn’t settle for that.

“I know he can be an arrogant dick sometimes,” she says. “But he’s a good guy underneath all that. Really. The best I know.” Her blue eyes fill with affection. “Since our parents died, he’s always been there for me, no matter what. I mean, one time I was at a sleepover in eighth grade and had terrible nightmares. He bailed on Spring Break with his friends to come pick me up, never said a word to complain.”