Page 4 of Head Over Feels
Iwanted to defend myself further, thoughIcouldn’t figure out what else to say.Itook another fortifying swallow of my drink.Whocared whatCalthought?Screwhim.
ButIdidn’t stand up and leave.Forsome reasonIwas driven to tellCalthe entire story. “We’llhave to agree to disagree.”Hiseyes flew back to mine, and he pulled his head back and raised his eyebrows. “Anyway,”Icontinued. “LastfallIhad the bad date to end all bad dates.Completewith getting shot at.”Inodded knowingly atCal’sshocked expression. “Itwas not fun, let me tell you.ThoughIam still sort of friends withWill, the guyIwas out with that night.”
“Okay?”
“Right.Soafter the shootingIdecided to take a break from dating.Likea sabbatical.”
“Hmphf, sounds like the best decision you could’ve made.”
Somethingwas odd about his tone, butIignored it.
Totell you the truth,Ikind of liked my dating sabbatical.Ididn’t feel pressure to be interesting or to feign some sort of charisma or charmIdidn’t have.Okay,Imissed sex.Notwith any of my bad dates—Ihadn’t been that desperate.ButIused to make an effort to go out and find hookups at least once a week or so.NowadaysIdidn’t bother.Itwas a lot less effort to take care of things myself.
Andmy dating hiatus had given me the extra time and mental energyI’dneeded to finally work on the certification for my dream job.Focusingon my career was enough for me.Atleast it had been, beforeColecame into my life.
Isighed. “So, a couple of weeks ago,Will, the guyIgot shot at with, invited me to lunch.Oneof his…Imean, his boyfriend….”Crap,Ididn’t want to tellCalhe’d been chatting online withColeWashburn, famous ex-movie star.AndifIsaidColeand mentioned there were three of them in the relationship,Calwould instantly guess whoImeant.
RemembertheTVinterview lastDecemberwhereColeWashburncame out as not only bisexual but poly?Yeah, no wayCalmissed hearing about it, even if he didn’t watch.
Funfact: that interview aired only three weeks after my disaster of a date withWill.
That’sright,I’dbeen on a date with one ofA-list actorColeWashburn’sboyfriends less than a month before their relationship went public.Notthat they’d been exclusive at the time of my date withWill.Andnot thatColehad beenconsciousat the time either, being in a coma and all.
Somepeople thoughtCole’scoma made it worse thatWillwent out with me, not better.IthoughtWillwas just a guy trying to move on with his life.
ButCaldidn’t need to know any of that.
Andscrew it,I’duseCole’sreal name.I’dforget ifItried to use a fake one anyway.
“Yeah, soCole.”Calblinked and appeared kind of startled for a second, but there were lots of guys namedCole, right? “Willhad told him about my history of bad dates.Colewas insistentIwas doing something to pick the wrong guys, and he said he could do a better job.”
Ignorantof what was in store,I’dbeen thrilled whenWillinvited me to lunch with him and his boyfriends.I’dadmiredCole’smuscular body, green eyes and blue-black hair on the silver screen sinceI’dfigured outIwas gay in middle school.Andthese days he might have a gnarly-looking scar along the right side of his face, but he was still as sexy as ever.
IknewWillhad told his boyfriends about my dating history, butIhadn’t expectedColeto be on a mission to fix my problems.I’dbeen taken aback when he’d hardly waited to be introduced to me before he started peppering me with questions about howI’dpicked the guysI’dgone out with.
WillandJason, their other boyfriend, tried to change the subject and distractColewith different topics, but he kept coming back to my bad dates.AtleastI’dbeen able to tour their rescue ranch and pet some animals during my interrogation.
“Itjust seems,”Colehad told me in between my questions about the pregnant dog they had staying with them, “You’rethe common denominator in all your dates.”Well, no freaking kidding. “Thissuggests that if someone else picked your dates for you, you might get different results.”
Morelikely it suggested that normal, well-adjusted guys might not be attracted to hopelessly uncoordinated bear cubs with red hair.
I’dpointed out howCole’sargument didn’t hold water since one of the datesI’dpicked wasWill, whoColehadalsopicked to date.Whichsuggested that maybeColewouldn’t be the best person to choose my dates either.
WillandJasonthought my argument was hilarious, butColefrowned at them and told me it wasn’t the same.
Sighingagain,Iran my hand over my face and metCal’seyes ruefully. “Alcoholwas involved.”
“Ah.”Calwas almost expressionless, clearly not impressed with me or my story.
Iwasn’t impressed with myself either.Thesaddest part of my conversation withCole—thoughIwould never ever admit it toCal—was that somehow, probably due to the alcohol, he’d resurrected my bruised and battered hope for a boyfriend of my very own.
“Right.”Ipersevered with my story. “Colewas sure he’d be able to pick a better guy for me thanIcould, soIlet him take over my account.”Ishook my head. “Hewas only supposed to use the one app, butIfound out today he’s been putting my profile on all these others too.Iyelled at him and gotWillinvolved, so he’s gonna take them down.”Iput my hands up. “So, whatever he said to you while pretending to be me,I’msorry.”
Cal’smouth dropped open, and he didn’t speak for a second.Thenhe kind of shook himself. “You’retelling me this guyColewas the one who messaged me, and not you?”
“Yep.Ihaven’t touched the app sinceIletColetake it over.”
“Huh.Well, honestlyIwasn’t looking for a date.Imessaged you because under your interests you said you likeTheTentacularTalesofCaptainStarblade.Idon’t know anyone else who reads it, andIwanted to ask what you thought about last week’s chapter.”
