Page 3 of Brick Wall
“Are your brothers protective?” he asks as he takes a sip of his pint.
“The worst. I didn’t have my first kiss until I was eighteen because they were such cockblockers.” I choke out a laugh at my sordid tale. “I moved out of state for college, and then oneof my stupid brothers followed me.”
“What are your brothers up to now?”
“Worried?” I ask as I lift my brow.
“Just wondering if I need to be looking over my shoulder,” he says while looking over his shoulder at the crowded bar.
This affords me a good look at his jawline, and wow. His jaw is…not something I usually notice, but dang, it’s strong and sharp, and is highlighted by his gorgeous blond beard.
I wave a hand in front of me. “Nah, you’re good. The most annoying one lives out of state. Plus, they are grown men now, and they’ve relaxed a bit.”
“Just a bit?”
“Just a bit,” I confirm.
After a few minutes of silence, I answer his question from earlier. “I actually do come here often. Well, not that often, but it is my favorite bar in the city,” I say while shoving more popcorn in my mouth like the lady I am. “You?”
“Never been. I don’t make it out too often. But tonight, I’m a wingman.”
I look around and see no one in the immediate vicinity who looks like a possible friend. “Well, it looks like you are doing an excellent job.”
“Oh, I am,” he says with a small smile.
“Impressive.” I lower my voice and whisper conspiratorially, “I’m spying.”
He gives me a slight lift of his right brow. Dammit, why is that so sexy?
“My friend has a date with a guy she met on an app that I’ve never heard of, so I want to make sure she doesn’t get murdered or anything,” I say more casually than I feel.
My beautiful best friend and roommate, Goldie, is verysweet and lovely, but she can also be a bit naïve.
I mean, she signed up for a new dating app she found through a social media ad and matched with someone quickly. Two days later, I’m at the bar spying to make sure she’s not murdered, kidnapped, or catfished.
I look over my shoulder to two tables behind me and see Goldie laughing into her wine glass.
I was leaning toward catfished before this bar encounter, but now I don’t know.
She immediately matched with a guy named Ellis, whose picture looked exactly like Bryce Ellis, a kicker for the Boston Revolutionaries. It’s not difficult to steal a picture of anyone online these days, but it’s extra easy if they are already in the spotlight.
What are the odds that Goldie’s first dating app experience is with a professional football player? The only people I’ve met on there constantly ask for nudes or have creepy pickup lines with weird innuendos.
I’ve never had a positive experience with apps. Maybe I am bitter. Who knows? I’ve never had a great date through the app, and I can’t see how this could be different for her.
I may be bitter about apps, but I’d like to think I’m not sour about love in general. I’d like to think if I randomly met a person at a bar or through friends or whatever, I’d keep my heart open. I’m not actively searching for love, but I’m not actively dismissing it either. I’m somewhere in the middle, I hope.
“The two times I’ve gone on a date through an app, I got catfished and ended up on a date with a guy with a cat.” I guess I admitted that fact out loud. Crap.
“What’s so bad about a guy with a cat?” he asks, confused,but has a little humor to his voice too.
“Nothing, if he just had a cat, but I didn’t expect him to bring the cat on the date and be our third wheel. Actually, I felt like the third wheel, to be honest. He wore one of those sweatshirts that you can put a cat in.”
I take a slight pause and I’m about to continue, but he states, “I have no idea what you are talking about.”
“You know those big pullover sweatshirts, well, they sell them with huge pockets in the front, and now they make a particular sweatshirt, especially for cat owners, so you can keep your cat in them.”
I look over to gauge his reaction or to see whether he has questions, but his face is blank.
