Page 92 of Not Dating Material

I know I should probably lie, but I can’t bring myself to do it. “With Seven … I think it might.”

Chapter 25

SEVEN

“You had to pick a puzzle,” I mutter, sorting through the pieces in front of me, unable to believe that a week later, we’re still working on the dumb thing.

“You like puzzles! It was fun when we did it.”

“Yeah, but the one we did was a couple of hundred pieces. Five thousand? Really?”

“There were more of us,” Molly explains. “So I thought it would need to be bigger.”

“Well, you’ve done it now.” Ever since our family fun night, where we barely made a dent in the puzzle, it’s sat on the table and been worked on bit by bit by whoever’s around. We’re still only a quarter of the way through, and it’s frustrating me every day to know that it’s sitting here unfinished.

“I think it’s more fun this way,” Molly says in his usual peppy way. “That it brings us together even when we’re not together.”

“You would think that.” I try to make it sound like an insult, but it doesn’t come out that way. Probably because it’s one of the things I like most about him. How sincere and sweet he is. It also doesn’t surprise me that he’d want to feel a connection to the people in the house when they’re not here because Molly seems starved for it. I’ve heard him talk to his dad and best friend a few times, and I can’t help but think he holds back with them both. I know he said he felt like the third wheel between them—and that isn’t at all weird—but it almost feels like he wants to be.

“Question for you,” I say. “What were you like in college?”

He chuckles. “Hello, random.”

“Yeah, yeah, go with it.”

His nose scrunches up as he tries a piece that doesn’t fit and sets it back down again. “I was good. Roomed with Will from when I was a freshman until senior year when—”

“The douchebag boyfriend?”

“Yeah.” He sighs. “Until him. Otherwise, I did well in classes, got reallyyyy messy on the weekends, and worked part-time making coffees.”

“Nice. Other than Will, how many friends did you have?”

He throws me a look. “That’s a weird question.”

“Well, there was Madden …”

Molly thinks for a moment. “I knew Madden, but he was more Will’s friend.”

“Okay, then, who else?”

“Well … the ex-boyfriend, obviously. There was a girl I used to sit with in one of my typography classes. Oh! And the twins I’d eat with sometimes.”

I bite my lip, putting together more of the Molly puzzle than ever. “What about at the cafe?”

“Yeah, there were a few nice people there.”

“Anyone you were friends with?”

“Not really.” Molly glances up at me. “That actually sounds kind of depressing. Four years at college, and I only walked away with one friend.”

“I don’t know about Will, but I do know that Madden considers you a friend.”

“Yeah, he does now.”

“Well, that’s something.”

“Is it?” Molly’s mouth hangs open as he stares at the table. “It’s worse than I thought. I really am a people repellent.”

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