Page 25 of Minted

Kristy’s mouth drops open and stays that way.

James practically wrenches the box from her, pulling her toward his older model Lincoln Towncar. “We’ll see you there.”

“Wait, I didn’t even know you were dating anyone.” Kristy’s eyes are ping-ponging from Bentley to me and back again. “How did you two even meet?”

Bentley slings his arm around my shoulders. “I’ve known Barbara for almost fifteen years, but it wasn’t until your boy over there messed up that I saw my window. It’s hard to catch Barbara, between all the guys who like her, but I finally did.”

I practically drag Bentley to the McLaren and point. “Get in.”

“Whoa there,” he says. “You look ticked.”

“You think?” I climb into the passenger side without thinking and pass the keys back to him.

“I thought I was supposed to irritate them. No?”

“You gave me a McLaren?” I roll my eyes.

“You’re going to be driving it.”

“For a few weeks, tops,” I say. “And then what do I say?”

“It got bad gas mileage?” He shrugs. “Why does it matter? Deal with that then.”

I groan. “This is my actual life, Bentley.”

He sounds contrite. “I know it is.”

“It’s not a joke, and when you go so over the top, no one will ever believe it. That’s why I told you we should go as friends.”

Bentley has just turned the car on, but he doesn’t put it in gear. He turns to me instead. “Hold on a minute.”

“What?” I tap on the clock in the display. “We’re already late, though, so let’s not hold on for too long a minute.”

“There’s no such thing as a long minute,” Bentley says. “All minutes have sixty seconds.”

“Wasting time,” I say.

“What did you mean, ‘that’s why you said we should go as friends?’”

“Huh?”

“What’s why?”

“I’m confused.” I mean, I’m not really. I know what he’s asking, but I’m not about to tell him that I didn’t want to go as his girlfriend because no one on earth would believe he and I could ever actually date.

It sounds too pathetic, even to me.

“Why would no one believe that we’re more than friends?”

Aw, crap. He’s not letting it go. “Because,” I say.

“Because?” He lifts both eyebrows and waits.

Painfully.

Is he that obtuse? “Do you really not know, Bentley?”

He frowns. “No.”

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