“Yes, I’m okay. Haven’t you ever heard of an overprotective father?”
“Right,” he said. “Well, I think we have to finish our conversation from earlier, don’t you?”
“How do you plan on making that happen?” I asked.
“Look, I have no problem talking to you in front of anyone. I just don’t want any trouble for you.”
“Oh, there you go again with that hero stuff,” I said. “You know what, Maverick? You want to finish our conversation? I have an idea.”
“Let me hear it.”
“Find a date.”
“What?”
“Find a woman to go out with you.”
“Right,” he said. “This is you telling me to leave you alone?”
“Sort of,” I said. “I’m just saying if I was to go out on a date with someone and you were to go out on a date with someone… and we ended up at the same restaurant…”
“You’re not kidding right now, are you?” Maverick asked.
“Sadly, I’m not.”
“You want to fake date two people so you and I can talk?”
“Fake date? I never said fake date. I’ll get a real date. Super-hot guy. Taller than you. Bigger than you. One who doesn’t make a living having hockey pucks launched at his face.”
“Oh, so you mean someone boring?” Maverick asked. “That sounds fun. Enjoy falling asleep during your meal while he’s talking about finance and interest rates.”
“Shows how much you really don’t know about me,” I said. “Interest rates turn me on.”
Maverick laughed. “I can’t believe this. I can’t just talk to you like a normal person?”
“Nope,” I said. “So let me know what you decide, Maverick. You know how to contact me.”
“This might be the most insane thing I’ve ever heard in my life,” Maverick said.
“Maybe I’ll talk to you later,” I said. “Maybe I won’t.”
I hung up the call.
I bit my bottom lip, turned and opened the bathroom door.
Zoe and Eva stood there, a look of shock on their faces.
“What?” I asked.
“The door is super thin,” Zoe said.
“We heard everything,” Eva said.
“So?”
They both pointed at me and smiled.
Then they said at the same time, “You like him!”
I laughed and pushed by my best friends.
I did not like Maverick.
I just wanted to see how far he’d go to talk to me.
And he owed me a new camera lens.
No big deal at all.
Right?