Page 55 of Just for Fun
“She is not a stripper, fucker.” I flip him off for good measure. “She is a respectable girl with a respectable job.”
To his credit, Alex tries his hardest to hold back the laughter that’s obviously bubbling in his chest. When he finally lets it go, it echoes all around my house. I cross my arms over my chest and look away, not wanting to laugh with him, because I know he has a point. But I don’t want to give him the satisfaction.
“I’m serious,” I tell him once he’s calmed down. “Zara is a good girl.”
Alex wipes at his eyes, shaking his head at me, laughter still marring his features. I guess I should be grateful that he’s laughing. The last couple of months have been brutal. He’s been an ass not just to us guys, but to the girls, too. That hasn’t been going over too well with any of the couples.
“She has a name.” He sounds surprised by that. But again, with my record, I should understand why.
“Fair enough,” I shrug. “You’ll get to meet her. I’m bringing her to Ray’s wedding.”
He frowns. “Who’s going to be my wingman at the wedding if you bring a date?”
“You’re supposed to bring a date, too,” I remind him. “That’s why Hayden told me to bring a nice girl. I found one, and I’m bringing her.”
I don’t share with him that I am hoping to spend a bit more time with her before our time is up. Hopefully I won’t be obsessing with her as much once I got her out of my system. She might have a really crappy personality when in an enclosed space. Worse yet, she might be terrible in bed. That would definitely not make me want to go back for more.
“Where did you find her?”
“Holidatesapp.” I respond with no hesitation.
“What the fuck.” Alex starts pacing around my living room. “Didn’t you and I decide that was a stupid app? And that Cal and Ray are idiots for using it?”
“Yeah…” My shoulders go up to my ears when I throw my arms in front of me. “But where else was I going to find a decent date at such short notice?”
“You didn’t have to find a date at all,” he yells back. “Hayden didn’t even think you could.”
“I know that.” My head bobs up and down. “But it felt like a challenge. I wanted to see if I could.”
He stares at me for a few long moments. “So now I’m gonna be the only one there without a date?”
“What about Mona?” I ask, referring to his ex that’s not as ex as he makes it sound.
His face gets red, and the vein at the side of his forehead is pulsing.
“She won’t talk to me. I’m pretty sure she blocked me.”
“About time,” I chuckle.
For a split second, I wonder if I went too far. Alex looks like he is about to beat me to a pulp. Since he is taller and wider, I have no doubt that he could do it. I jump in place when he moves, but instead of lunging at me, he turns around and walks out the door, slamming it behind him.
“Huh,” I say to the empty room. “I wonder what he wanted.”
I don’t have time to think about it, though, because it’s getting close to the time when I have to leave to go pick up Zara from work. And this time, I will not be late.
SEVENTEEN
Zara
My days are usually veryboring. I wake up, brush my teeth, take a shower, get dressed and come to work. I sometimes stop at the diner by the fire station to grab breakfast, which I usually eat at my desk. Since I am always early, all traces of it are gone by the time my coworkers come in.
Today, though… I have no words to explain how bad today was.
I should’ve never agreed to Kyle’s invitation to have breakfast this morning. That automatically messed with my daily routine. On top of that, he showed up late.
The emotions swirling inside of me while I sat at that table by myself, waiting on my date to arrive, caused me to realize that maybe I liked Kyle a bit too much. I actually got teary eyed as I waited. That was just as terrible as it sounded. I have never in my life cried over a guy, and I couldn’t believe that I was crying over a guy I had just met the night before.
Then, he met my brother. Talk about an awkward encounter. I almost cried in relief later in the day when Owen had to cancel our lunch date because he was still out on a call.
