Page 69 of Flirting with Forever

“I...thought you had feelings for Hogan Trencher.”

Richie frowned, like he couldn’t believe that John could be this dense. “Hogan’s straight, John. Get over it.”

John was quiet for a minute, musing inwardly on how complicated it would be to have feelings for someone who didn’t, couldn’t ever, have feelings for you. He wasn’t exactly sure what was going on with Mary, but at least he knew that she found him to be handsome. There was that little nugget to cling to. He momentarily considered a world where Mary wouldn’t ever even find him attractive. How painful that would be. It was in that moment, no matter how John personally felt about Crash Willis, that he decided to be happy for Richie.

“Are you two dating?” he asked.

Richie grimaced. “I like him. He likes me. He’s not fooling around in anyone else’s office for now. Is that enough of an answer, Mom?”

John stared unseeingly out their shoebox-sized window. “Crash Willis,” he said again. “Well, I’m happy for you, Rich. Mazel.”

“Oh, John, you sentimental sap.”

Richie’s voice dripped with sarcasm, but John could read between the lines and see how much his approval meant to Richie.

“Besides,” Richie said, sitting on his chair and swiveling toward his desk, “now you and I are even.”

“Even?” John exclaimed. “For what?”

He put his foot on the side of Richie’s chair and swiveled him back around. He’d never in his life been caught necking in the office.

Richie had a sly smile on his face as he clicked a pen with annoying slowness. “For that show you put on at Mary’s party.”

John frowned. “There was no show.”

“Oh, for the love of God, John, there was a show. A freakinghawtshow.”

John folded his arms over his chest. “We were just dancing.”

“Thatwasn’t dancing. That was foreplay.”

John grunted. “Foreplay implies there was play. And there was no play. I went home withyou.”

“Foreplay doesn’t imply immediate play. And don’t tell me you don’t have plans to see her again soon. Don’t tell me you left her house without securing a playdate.”

John grunted again. He actually had left the house without securing a date. A fact that now seemed like a grossly incompetent oversight. Why hadn’t he shot his shot that night? Why hadn’t he laid it all out on the table for her? For God’s sake, the woman had pressed her cheek to his heartbeat. She’d smiled into his smile. He should have asked her on a date. He should have trusted the signs. John eyed Richie. “You, ah, think she was interested?”

Richie’s chin dropped two inches as he shot John a look dry enough to turn a grape into a raisin. “John” was all he said.

John’s foot bounced. “It’s just weird is all,” he eventually said. “I’ve spent so much time convincing people that there was nothing going on between us. My mom. My dad. Her friend Tyler.”

“Convincing?” Richie asked pointedly.

“Yeah. Everyone was skeptical.”

“John, have you ever stopped to really think about what that actually means that no one believed you? Not your mother, your father or her friend Tyler?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that there’s a reason you have toconvincethem that you two weren’t together.”

John cast his eyes down, frustrated and embarrassed. “Because my feelings for her are so freaking obvious.”

“No. Well, yes. But, jeez, you’re dense. That’s not what I’m talking about. So, listen closely because I’m only going to lay this out once. Nice and clear.” Richie clicked that pen again, faster this time. “All these people, including myself, think that you and shemake sense together, John. When they ask if you’re together, what they’re really asking isWhy not?Because they look at you and they think,Yup, there are two people who could really make a go of it.”

John stared at Richie. His friend was rarely this fired up outside of a courtroom. And apparently he wasn’t finished. Richie barreled on. “I truly think that you might be the only person on earth who looks at the two of you and thinks you’re not good enough for her. People aren’t thinking about you having to save money to take her out to a fancy birthday dinner. They aren’t imagining her in her Tom Ford shoes avoiding the loose nails in the floor of your tiny apartment. They aren’t wondering why in God’s name she would slum it with you. You’re the only one who asks those questions.”

John marveled inwardly at how well his best friend knew him. He opened his mouth to speak, but Richie kept going. “The rest of the world looks at you and thinks,Look at those two bighearted, kind, hardworking people. Don’t they make a handsome couple?So, why in God’s name can’t you see it, John? Why? You’re the only one left fighting this thing when you’re the one who actually wants to be with her. And don’t deny it, John. I’ve seen it on your grumpy-ass face. You look at Mary like all the light in the world originates from her. Stop telling yourself you can’t have her. Just stop it already.”

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