I grit my teeth and jab him in the ribs, hissing. “Would you knock that off?”
“Sorry, it was an impulse.”
He does not look one bit remorseful.
“Ugh. Your impulses are going to get you in trouble, mister.”
He grins down at me and kisses my hair, whispering in my ear. “I like you Ceceila Carter. Are you sure you want to go through with this? We can ditch this place and go somewhere else to get to know each other better.” Neve flashes me his pearly whites, a lock of shocking black hair falling in his dark blue eyes.
“Um, yeah – I’m sure. Let’s just get this over with.”
“You don’t sound sure.” He wiggles his eyebrows then shrugs it off. “Okay, fine. Whatever. Can you at least do me a favor and try not to get me punched in the face tonight?”
“I can’t make you any promises. After all, a favor is what got me into this whole mess in the first place…”
Matthew
She’s here.
Regrettably, she’s not alone.
They come through the crowd together attached at the hip - and before I can even give Cecelia a proper once over, my eyes go immediately to Neves’ giant paw in the waistband of her shorts. Immediately seeing red, my nostrils flare and I turn away to prevent myself from glaring, count from one to ten in a futile attempt to calm myself, then loudly slam my beer bottle down onto the bar top.
The sound of the glass bottle hitting the wooden counter clangs in my eardrums, and as I grip the long neck of it like a lifeline I repeat, ‘I deserve this. I deserve this and I brought this on myself,’ over and over in my head.
Or maybe not in my head…
Weston gives me a look like I’ve sprouted three heads. “Dude, do you realize you’re saying that shit out loud? Christ, you sound like a wacko.” He gives his head a quick nod. “Heads up. They’re approaching to the left.”
Still facing the bar I take a swig of beer, relishing the cold liquid pouring down my throat, swallowing hard and kind of wishing I was piss-ass drunk, especially when Kevin loudly announces, “Look-ey, look-ey what the cat dragged in! It’s our favorite new couple.”
I almost spit my beer out and swear if looks could kill, my boy Kevin would be a dead man.
I’m too sober and way way too old for this shit.
Weston claps me on the shoulder, letting his hand rest there - as a warning to chill the fuck out - and I turn towards the group, fake smile pasted across my lips. My eyes settle on Cecelia, and seeing her is like a drink of water to my parched soul – and holy shit balls did that sound cheesy. Cheesy but… mostly true. My tired eyes haven’t set on her in, what - days. A week? Two weeks? All I know for sure is it’s been too long and time seems indistinguishable. It hardly matters now that she’s here…
And now here I am waxing poetic about a girl who:
I’m not even technically dating.
I haven’t even kissed.
Thinks I’m a complete prick.
Is here on a date with one of my best friends, who is admittedly, probably a better match for her than I am.
Need I go on?
I only have myself to blame.
As Molly hands Cecelia a cocktail glass, I see her covertly watching me from the corner of her eye above the rim as she takes a long sip – a maneuver I’ve discovered she’s honed well; it means she can stare at me without being obvious.
I take her perusal of me as a sign. A very good sign.
On the other hand… Neves’ hand is still tucked into her goddamn shorts. “Have you guys been here long?” He asks to no one in particular.
Jenna flips her long, wavy, blonde and lavender hair, giggling at him flirtatiously, dimples denting her smooth cheeks. “Only for about twenty minutes. You know how it is - no one wants to get here before eleven O’clock and be the first ones out.”
I try not to bare my teeth as Neve somewhat reluctantly removes his hand from the waistband of Cecelia’s shorts just long enough to step forward and bump my fist in way of a greeting. At this moment I would seriously rather crush the bones in his knuckles with my fist than bump them.
Wait. Does that seem harsh?
But come on – what the fuck is he doing with my girl? Alright, alright - fine. Go ahead and argue that she and I really don’t have anything going on, and that she isn’t really my girlfriend – but so what? Neve knows I like her. Weston knows I like her – everyone fucking knows I like her.
Don’t they…?
So the question is: what the hell is he doing taking her out on another date? It’s shady and it’s pissing me off. Honestly. He really is lucky I don’t deck him. This totally goes against Bro Code, and judging by the smug look plastered on his arrogant face, he damn well knows it.