Page 63 of Bad Crush
“I was about to drop some enlightenment.” Rhett grins.
“Cheers to that,” Heath says and raises his glass.
After we take the shot, Rhett starts in. “It’s like pulling the goalie late in the game so you can have an extra skater on the ice.”
I think. Hard. I’ve got nothing. “How does this relate to me?”
“Yeah, I’m lost too,” Mav says. “And I know the punchline.”
Rhett fidgets with his glass. “Forget it. The point is you’re doing everything you can to make this time different, but in doing so, you’re denying Reagan exactly what she wants.”
“No,” I refute it. “She’s happy. We’re good.”
“Dude,” Mav starts. “Reagan has been into you for a long time. She’s seen you with girlfriends, and she’s wished that girl was her.” He places his hands over his heart and bats his lashes at me. “Wait, I think I finally figured out where you were going with that. Reagan’s the goalie in that scenario, right?”
“No,” Rhett says, sounding annoyed.
“Scott’s the goalie?” Mav tries again.
Rhett groans. “No. No one is the goalie. I was trying to make a point that he switched things up late in the game.”
“I so didn’t get that,” Heath says.
They’re bickering back and forth over metaphors, but my stomach suddenly feels like I swallowed a bowling ball.
Rhett pins his gaze on me. “If you’d been secretly pining after someone for years and finally got your chance, would you want that person to switch things up? Or be relegated to some weird non-relationship thing different from everything you knew about how they acted in the past?”
“No, I guess not.” I think back to all of our conversations about it. “She hasn’t said anything. In fact, she’s been great about all of this. She’s cool with us not labeling it.”
“Yeah, but what could she say? I’m sure you gave her the same speech you gave me,” Rhett says and waits for my answer. I don’t though because the answer sucks.
“You told her that you wanted to do things different, that she was different, or some combination or variation of that?” He nods his head. “That right?”
“Yeah,” I manage to admit and shift in my chair.
“All she wants is to be your girlfriend. The kind of girlfriend she’s seen you have in the past. She doesn’t give a fuck about all your perfectly logical reasons why she shouldn’t be.”
A quick glance around the table tells me they’re all in agreement.
“I’m gonna use the bathroom.” I stand. “Rhett, grab us another round of Captain.”
“Me? Why? I got the first round.”
“Because you’re about to be fifty bucks richer.”
All three of them study me for a few seconds before they realize what I mean.
“What?! But? You…” Mav flounders for words, looking like I kicked his dog. “No way,” he whines. “That’s it? But what about all of your really good reasons for not jumping into a new relationship?” He curses under his breath. “If I’d known you were going to listen to us, I would have suggested guys’ night last week.”
“Aww, cheer up, Mav,” I tell him. “You can help me figure out how I’m going to ask her to be my girlfriend tomorrow.”
“Something big and bold?” He grins.
“The bolder, the better.”
“Wait, why tomorrow?” Heath asks.
“She’s with the girls. I’m hanging with you guys.” I leave out the part about tonight's purpose being cheering up Rhett and making sure he’s doing okay. I still don’t know if he’s all right, so leaving feels wrong.
