Page 2 of Game Changer

“No.”

“But–”

“Jeremy Lewis.” AJ cut his friend off. “It’s not happening. We arenotdouble dating again.”

“But–”

“No!” AJ’s voice was getting slowly louder and more emphatic each time Jeremy attempted to speak. “Do you remember what happened last time we went on a double-date?”

Jeremy grinned. “Yeah. Threesome.”

“Yes. That’s right. You tookbothof them. And I was left home alone with a cold beer and a bad movie.”

“This is different,” Jeremy retorted, still smiling at the memory.

“Uh-huh. Heard that one before too.” AJ sipped at his soda and pushed his plate to the side of the table.

“It’s not my fault all the ladies love me,” Jeremy grumbled. “But this time it reallyisdifferent. The best friend isn’t here.”

“Not here? You mean in a different city?” AJ glanced at the table where the family at a standoff sat. Gone, with no trace of any sundae dishes and AJ shook his head as he realized the little boy had been too stubborn to apologize to his sister. As a result, they had clearly all suffered without dessert.

“Different continent.” Jeremy clarified, sounding almost proud of himself.

Thinking he’d misheard, AJ looked incredulously at his friend, waiting for an explanation.

“What?”

“That may have been a complete sentence, but it was not a complete explanation. How the hell does that work?”

“I dunno,” Jeremy shrugged. “Her best friend is in Northern Ireland. She’s one of the, like, twelve people in Northern Ireland to love hockey.” Jeremy always knew what to say to grab AJ’s attention when it came to women. “She sings, too.” He glanced AJ having gone for the money shot. AJ’s tongue had poked its way back out of the side of his mouth. “You’re interested, aren’t you?”

“What are you, her pimp? You sound like her damn Tinder profile.”

“I’m just telling you what Chelsea told me,” Jeremy was clearly failing at attempting to play it cool.

I know you too well, Jer. You’ve got it bad.

“Sounds like she talks a lot about her friend,” AJ answered dismissively, enjoying watching his friend squirm.

“She does. They both seem pretty interesting. Not my usual Puck-Bunny type at all. But I just can’t get past the Friend Zone with her.”

“The Irish one? You want in her pants, too?”

“What? No. Chelsea. I want in Chelsea’s pants.”

AJ grinned. “You’re really bent outta shape over this one, aren’t you?”

“Ugh.” Jeremy was clearly exasperated. “Yup. I got it bad. You’re interested in the Irish one though, aren’t you?” he asked, sounding hopeful. “Potentially? Maybe?”

“Curious, maybe. At a push. Hockey and music? Sounds too good to be true. How does she rate?”

“Chels is hot. Easily a nine.”

“The Irish one, Jer. The one you wantmeto talk to, soyoucan get into the nine’s pants.”

“No clue. But you don’t have to take her to bed or anything. Just talk to her so I have an excuse to talk to Chelsea. She’s thousands of miles away, what does it matter what she looks like?”

“Good point.”

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