Page 47 of Stick With Me
“Come over here, sweetheart. You’re barking up the wrong tree, but I’m a tree you can climb,” Fox cajoles with a wink.
This may be the one time I appreciate his shamelessness. The girl tucks herself under the arm he offers her.
“Now that you’ve got your hands full, I’m going to head out. Tell Volk I said bye.” I bump fists with Fox. But before I can get up from my seat, a hand grabs my shoulder, and Knolls leans against the table.Great.
“What? You didn’t like my peace offering?” Knolls nods toward the woman under Fox’s arm, her hand rubbing… something, hopefully his thigh, under the table. When I don’t take the bait, he presses on, “How’s your eyebrow? Think you’ll end up with theJason Momoa signature scar?”
Does he have any expression other than that stupid, all-knowing smirk?How was I ever friends with this clown? I can’t stop my eyes from rolling toward the ceiling. “Great. How’s your lip?” My voice drips with disdain.
“You better start playing nice, Logan,” he says with a cocky grin.
“Nah. It’s more fun this way.”
Knolls laughs, the sound low and mocking. “You might sing a different tune in a couple of weeks.”
I’m not sure what’s happening in a couple of weeks; we don’t play the Spurs again until mid-March. But I can guarantee my attitude won’t change by the time we meet again. “Guess we’ll see, won’t we?”
Before Knolls can respond, Volk steps in, breaking the building tension with a hand on each of our shoulders. “Let’s keep it on the ice, yeah?”
Knolls shakes his head but walks back to his team at the bar, giving me the chance to finally make my escape.
NINETEEN
I bite my nails,something I’ve been doing since watching Ryan kick Jace’s ass at the start of the game. Part of me kind of liked it, but I can’t shake the feeling that I’m the reason for the animosity between them.
“Hannah, stop moping. It was hot! I wish I had two hockey players fighting for my honor,” Natalie teases with a grin, taking a sip of her wine. She’s on the iPad propped up on Ada’s coffee table, joining us via FaceTime.
Ada clicks off the television, and I realize I’ve been staring at it blankly. Sitting at the opposite end of the couch, she turns fully toward me, her questioning look causes me to blurt, “Maybe it wasn’t about me.” But doubt creeps in almost immediately.Thanks, anxiety.
“And if it was… I feel awful. I’ve come back into Ryan’s life like a wrecking ball. While he’s only made my life better, I’m dragging him down,” I add.
Natalie gives me a look that saysreally?without words. “You’re more delusional than I thought.”
“I mean, I haven’t met him, so I can’t know for sure, but it doesn’t seem that way to me. He’s the one who offered to help. Plus, he invited you out for drinks. He wouldn’t have done that if he thought you were ‘dragging him down’,” Ada says, using air quotes.
“I guess,” I say, even though I don’t fully believe it.
“Let’s get back on track, ladies. We’ve watched the big, strong men hit the disks; now it’s time for our ‘get Hannah a date’ mission,” Natalie says, trying to lighten the mood.
I almost forgot about our original plan for the night: drink lots of wine and find me a date for the shelter event on Sunday. The lots of wine part was critical in getting me to agree to this in the first place, but now that it’s time to follow through, the urge to abort this mission is even stronger than my initial hesitation.
“I’m not sure—” I start.
“No, no, no. We talked about this… If you want to get over someone, you need to get under someone else,” Natalie reminds me, and I roll my eyes, not sure I subscribe to that logic.
“Won’t a first date at a networking event be kind of awkward?” I argue.
“We’ll find you a date for Friday night, and if all goes well, ask him to go with you on Sunday. What man doesn’t love a spontaneous woman?” Ada adds, topping off my glass with wine.
I laugh nervously, shaking my head. “I give Ryan a hard time about his planning, but I’m definitely not spontaneous.”
“Fake it till you make it?” Natalie shrugs. “You’re not weaseling your way out of this one, Hannah. Plus, have you ever dated? You jumped into a serious relationship almost as soon as we got to college. You should experience what it’s like to casually date.”
Honestly, I can’t argue with her.
Maybe I should give it a shot. Isn’t that what women in their twenties are supposed to do? Meet new people, explore new places. It fits into my independent era, as long as I keep my emotions in check.
“And don’t forget our fake dating scheme.” Ada takes a sip of her wine, then nudges me to do the same. “If you don’t click, just snap a picture with him, post it, and boom, Jace will see it and freak. Mission ‘get even’ accomplished.”
