I wave my hand at Joel to get his attention. “Who was the lucky lady on Saturday night? Did you head out again after you took Summer home?”
“Huh?” He looks up from his notes, confused for a second and maybe even a little annoyed, then his eyes light up and he laughs to himself.
“What?” I’m obviously not in on the joke.
“You’re talking about the sock, right?”
I nod.
He sits back on the couch with an amused expression and links his fingers behind his head. “How do you know it wasn’t Summer?” he asks, smirking.
I answer before thinking, “I asked her.”
Joel laughs again and shakes his head.
“What?” I repeat, annoyed that he’s not filling me in on whatever he thinks is so funny.
“I must have done that in my drunkenness. I was alone. I noticed the sock when I got up in the morning.”
I narrow my eyes. His story reeks of lies. He hadn’t looked that drunk when he left.
“Speaking of Summer…” He hesitates, but smiles. I hold my breath, knowing this is the moment he tells me he wants to ask her out.
“What about her?” I huff, frustrated that it bothers me.
“You were very flirty. Or touchy-feely, as Gemma put it.”
What?“I’m always flirty.” I’m lying, but Joel doesn’t call me out.
“Okay, let me reword it. You couldn’t take your eyes off her, at least until Gemma arrived. Then it was just the occasional glance.”
“What? That’s not true.”Shit, is that true?Picking up Joel’s pen, I roll it between my fingers to avoid looking back at him. God, I hope he’s wrong. But what if he’s not?
“Don’t worry, I’m sure I’m the only one who noticed.”
“Or maybe it didn’t happen,” I mutter under my breath.
“If you say so.”
I frown and internally groan. He’s wrong. He has to be. Have I thought about her since Saturday night? Yes, I thought about her as a friend.Just a friend. I mean, I’ve never had to think about someone being a friend before. They either are or they aren’t, but something about Summer makes it hard to just move on as though she’s just some random girl I chatted with at a party. Maybe I couldn’t take my eyes off her because I wanted to be friends? I’m with Gemma. I enjoy staring at Gemma…God, what’s she going to say? Did she notice?
“Where did you go just now?” Joel smirks, and I punch him in the arm.
I’m about to respond, probably with another lie, when my phone rings, saving the day.Gemma.I jump up, thankful to have an out of this conversation.
“It’s Gemma; I’m gonna take this in my room.” I gesture toward the hallway.
“You do that,” Joel says, waggling his eyebrows and then rolling his eyes. I laugh before throwing the pen back at his head.
When I reach my room, I shut the door and answer the call. “Hey, babe.”
We’ve been talking for about ten minutes when Gemma finally broaches the subject I’ve been waiting for. I lie back on my pillow, cross my ankles together, and take a deep breath, my eyes closing as I release it.
“Why didn’t you tell me about Summer?”
Here’s my chance to come clean. Tell her it was all just a joke. That Summer was actually defending her honor. We can laugh about it and move on. Never to speak of it again.
“I was worried about how you’d react to me having a female best friend. It’s been an issue in the past. Gotta say I’m relieved that you were so good about it when you met her.”