Page 97 of The Thorne at My Side
"Any excuse to celebrate right?" He jokes as he slides a glitter heart necklace over my head.
"Did you invite any girls to this dinner? Or is it just going to be five dudes celebrating Valentine's Day together?" Duncan Paisley, affectionately known as Dunc or Pays or Vera, after the bags girls made famous at high school sleepovers, asks as he slaps a heart sticker to the back of his hand.
"I thought we could visit the bar at the resort before heading to dinner. We've got the whole room, it wouldn't be difficult to add a few chairs. And even easier if you have your girl snuggle upon your lap!" Felix laughs and gives me a slap on the back that feels personal. "You gonna pick up a girl tonight?" He asks.
"I dunno," I respond with a shrug.
"C’mon man, it’s time," he pauses his work of unraveling a heart garland. "Why are you so hung up on this girl from the fall?"
"It’s hard to explain."
“You’ve never even tried.” He sounds hurt.
“No, I haven’t,” I admit as I think back to how angry Maggie was at dinner. She still doesn’t know that I’m her SMS Connect date; she just thinks it was a bad coincidence. “I messaged her on SMS Connect at Christmas and I haven't heard back."
"Ouch." He says with a wince like someone is cleaning a cut on his knee.
"I'm just not ready to move on yet." I admit.
"That makes sense, but are you going to do anything about it?"
"Like what?"
"Well you can always fuck around to get her out of your system. That has never failed in the history of manhood." Dunc calls out from the sofa.
"I think you need to check your facts." I tell him as I point my beer in his direction before taking a sip.
"Fine, but I don't see how pining for her and not taking any action to fix it is any better." He shrugs.
He has a point.
???
It wasn't hard to find girls at the bar. In fact, as soon as we walked in, a group approached us. One of them, Charity, I think, or maybe it’s Cassidy, attached herself tome and is now sitting next to me.
Well, it's more like she's perched on the edge of her chair trying to be as close to me as possible because I wouldn't let her sit on my lap.
She is playing with the hair at the back of my neck and I have to keep reminding myself not to swat at it thinking it's an insect.
Because she’s definitely a pest.
Felix is a happy camper at the head of the table and the other guys seem to be doing fine with the attention as well. I wouldn't be surprised if all these girls came home with us. And it would be awkward if I sent Chelsea, maybe that’s it, home alone while her friends were otherwise engaged so, it seems I'm stuck with her.
"So Austin, what do you like to do for fun?"
I turn towards her and try to appreciate the green of her eyes and the brunette of her hair but, even though she is pretty, she's not Maggie.
"I like to exercise," I respond coolly.
"I bet you do," she giggles and squeezes my bicep.
Maybe I enjoy the chase, the challenge, because fighting with Maggie was a thousand times more arousing than having this girl throw herself at me.
I can see it now, sex with this girl would be mechanical. Going through the motions. She'd of course mew and writhe and do all the things women are somehow taught to do so men feel like we're pleasuring them, but it would be an act.
Maggie never acted with me.
And, shit, I'm only thinking about sex with Maggie. It’s been months and I still haven't wrapped my mind around the fact that she is also my SMS Connection and that we share this incredibly deep emotional bond.
