Page 3 of Boyfriend From Hell
“Deer?” Gracie nudged my foot under the table with hers, “Hello? Earth to Deer—”
I lowered my mug, snapping back to reality. “Sorry, what?”
“I asked if you wanted to go to the quarry with Vince and I? A few of his work friends are getting together to watch the meteor shower tonight.” She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table. “It could be fun! I can even swing by the bakery after this and snag a cake. We could turn it into a little impromptu birthday party.”
A birthday party with strangers? Why not just buy me a sweater and stitch ‘pathetic’ onto the chest and parade me around town.
“Oh, uh—”
“His coworkers are so nice, kind of nerdy, you know,codersor whatever—but they’re super welcoming. And, I’d make sure it wasn’t weird or anything,” Gracie pressed, looking at me with expectant, wide eyes. “Plus, the new guy is single! They just hired him. I don’t know much about him, but when I visited Vince at work the other day, Ididcatch a glimpse of him—he’s hot, with a capital ‘H’.”
Great, she’s already playing matchmaker.
I stared at my best friend, really taking her in. She was one of those friends where you can’t remember when or how you met, or when it was settled that you became best friends. She just alwayswas. She’d been there for me through everything. Middle school, high school and the fever dream all of that entails. We had even decided to attend the sameuniversity—granted, I dropped out after the first semester, but that’s beside the point. We’ve been glued to one another for the better part of half our lives at this point.
She cocked a perfectly sculpted eye brow, her forehead not even so much as wrinkling while waiting for my answer.
“Yea, no, I’m good.” I threw a half smile her way to really drive home that I wasn’t into the idea, which only resulted in her rolling her eyes.
“Seriously? Do you want to at least get drinks later tonight?”
“No—” I began, “I have a new book I’m working on and I have a deadline I need to meet, so—”
“Deer, seriously? It’s yourbirthday, come on!” I had to stifle a laugh as she tossed her hands in the air, causing the small number of patrons that lingered in the café to glance in our direction. “It’s yourgoldenbirthday!”
I reached for her arms, mouthing an exaggerated ‘sorry’ to the people side-eyeing us.
“Gracie!” I could feel my cheeks warm at the unwanted attention she was drawing toward us.
She gave me a reluctant look as she lowered her arms.
“You should celebrate,” she stated flatly, jutting her bottom lip out.
“I know, I’m just not feeling up to it, maybe next week or something?” I offered.
Gracie perked up. “Wait, you should see if that hot neighbor of yours is home.”
She had been over to my apartment a total of one time and already spotted every hot and potentially single man in the whole building. I was in apartment 203, and coincidentlymy neighbor, Mr. 205, had just been getting home as we were hauling the last of my boxes into my unit.
I rolled my eyes. “Yea, no, I’m not going to knock on some stranger’s door and ask if they want to hang out.”
“Why? Ugh, just forget about that asshole. He’s always been an asshole, always will be! You can’t seriously squander away your youth like this! What, are you going to just stay single and die alone?”
Ouch.
“I’m not squandering my youth—who even says that? I just—I don’t feel like I’m ready to talk to anyone new. Plus, like I said, I’m not going to knock on a stranger’s door! Who even does that?”
“I would! Did you see him? Talk about tall, darkandhandsome!”
Of course I had seen my neighbor, I had two eyes. I’d made a very strong effort to avoid him. I felt lost enough as it was—I didn’t need some pretty boy making things worse for my brain or my heart. A chime emitted from the dark depths of her purse that was slung over the back of the chair behind her.
Please be Vince, please be Vince.I silently prayed.
I watched as she haphazardly reached an arm behind her, rifling blindly through her bag, stealing a quick glance at the message that lit up her phone screen—and then rolling her eyes.
“Ugh, sorry girl. Looks like Vince needs me to swing by the store for snacks for the little gathering tonight.” She looked at me apologetically.Thank God.“I can grab a cake if youdecide—”
“No, no. Thanks, but I’ll still pass for tonight.” I waved a hand, cutting her off. “Thank you though, really. I appreciate you trying to make my birthday special.”
