Amusement tips up the corners of his mouth. “And a cleanse?”
“I’m ridding myself of unhealthy toxins.”
“So women are toxic?” Penn asks with a dry tone that either indicates he doesn’t agree or is still struggling to understand what the hell I’m talking about. Since he hasn’t dated anyone in more than a year, I’m guessing it’s the latter.
“No. I am the problem.”
“Heard,” D-Low mutters.
I ignore him and continue, “I’m in a pattern. I meet a girl, we go out a few times, and then one or both of us gets bored and I move on.”
“That’s just dating,” D-Low says. We’re the most alike in our relationships—as in, neither of us have done anything serious lately.
“It’s exhausting.”
“You’re twenty-six. You’re too young to be tired of dating,” Penn says, still sounding half bored.
“Twenty-seven next month.” Nick pipes up.
“Oh, that’s right. Are you still doing a Vegas trip?” D-Low asks.
“Yeah. Me, you, and Shep are in. Penn and Galaxy hate fun.”
“Sorry, man. Aidan has a game that weekend,” Nick says.
“I know. I’m just giving you shit.”
We all look to Penn.
“Oh, I don’t have anything going on,” he says. “I just hate fun.”
He’s full of shit. I happen to know he’s playing in a charity game that weekend, but I suppose he has his grumpy, fun-hating reputation to uphold.
“Can we go back to the love at first sight thing?” Shep asks. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around the idea ofyoubeing in love, let alone believing you’re in love with someone after only seeing them for five seconds.”
“Rude,” I say with no real bite in my tone. I get it. I’m not the guy who waxes poetic about love and relationships. But it isn’t like I’ve purposely avoided either.
“It was more than five seconds.” I think. To be honest I sort of blacked out. It could have been minutes or hours, maybe days. “I don’t know how to explain it. There was just something there.”
“Attraction,” D-Low suggests. “Love at first sight is a gimmick for bad romantic comedies and Valentine’s Day cards. What you experienced was intense attraction to a super hot chick.”
Perhaps attraction is the simplest answer, but I’ve been attracted to people before and not had this gut-wrenching, heart palpitating response. It was like…I couldn’t breathe. I’ve never had that strong of a reaction to someone. Not even the hottest of hot women I’ve met. Hannah is gorgeous but I refuse to believe what I felt was only an attraction to her. I don’t push though because I’m sure the guys would only think anything I say is further proof that I’m not thinking clearly.
“Ruby-Doo will be very upset to hear you dismissing love at first sight,” I tell him instead.
Nick’s expression softens at the mention of his girlfriend. “She didn’t say she believed in it.”
“She didn’t say that she didn’t either,” I point out.
Nick shakes his head and lets out a low chuckle.
“You don’t believe in love at first sight?” Shep asks D-Low in a way that indicates maybe our quiet defenseman does. Good. I need an ally.
“I believe in evolutionary biology and neurochemistry that predispose us all to be attracted to people instantly.”
I groan. Why is this so hard for people to wrap their heads around? I thought it was universally accepted like soulmates. “And that’s different from love at first sight how?”
“Attraction is not love.”
