Page 45 of Ripped & Shipped
My friends and I look on as Ella Mae grabs a napkin, wipes across my face and announces, “Clean!”
You can literally hear a pin drop when Duke pushes pause.
He looks over at me with one eyebrow raised.
“She wiped your mouth.”
“Yep.”
“You let Ella Mae wipe your mouth. You two look awfully cozy there. I mean, there’s filling in when a woman gets stood up, and then there’s sharing dessert and wiping one another’s mouths.”
Duke waggles his eyebrows. The rest of the room looks on like jurors in a murder case. These guys are the worst. I don’t want to throw Ella Mae under the bus. She already went through enough that night. And I’ve been more confused than I’ve ever been since then.
I cross my arms over my chest.
Duke looks at me. I glare back at him. Wall-of-Chris. That’s what I am right now. Nothing gets through this impenetrable fortress.
Duke knows it. He finally breaks our little stare-down.
“Welp, gentlemen! That was fun! Let’s grill some burgers.”
“Instead of grilling me?” I mumble to Duke only.
“Yeah, man. Instead of grilling you. But you and I are still going to talk. That’s a bit more thanwe ran into one another and she caught me on camera. Why didn’t you say something on Thursday when we had coffee?”
I look over at the big screen—exhibit A. “Um, I wonder.”
The rest of the guys are filing out through the kitchen toward the back yard.
“Yeah. Good point. But I only went to these measures because you didn’t tell me. I mean, I had to go hunting when you mentioned she filmed you. And when I saw that motherlode of a live video, welp. You know I had to share.”
“You didn’t have to share.”
“Oh, but I did.” Duke chuckles. “I so did.”
I shake my head. It’s not like I don’t want my friends knowing I ate dinner with Ella Mae. I just like to figure things out without a lot of interference. And I haven’t figured this out. So, I wanted space to do my own sorting.
“So, what gives? Are you two …?” Duke asks, standing from the couch.
“Nah. We’re just …”
“Friends?”
“Something like that.”
Duke hums.
“Okay, Big Boy, let’s go get some burgers.”
“Kill that nickname.”
“Not happening,” Duke says with a chuckle. “Definitely not happening.”
Sweet, fab-you-lous peeps!
This day was so special. ??
I just want to get on here and thank all of you for coming along for the ride while DrakesDaMan and I did our taste test live!
