“It’s nothing about me.” I try that out, hoping it’s enough to soothe him, but it seems it isn’t, and then Tara butts in too.
“Yeah, you’re definitely hiding something.”
She flips her long blonde hair back and mimics Derek’s intense stare. Then, like they planned it or something, they both lean in on their seats.
I instinctively press my back to my chair and shake my head.
“It’s not about me,” I repeat, hoping they might just let it go, but all the while there’s a niggle in the back of my head telling me to talk about it with them.
I mean, I’ve never been another man’s boyfriend, or even held a man’s hand... and now that I think about it, they’ve both done all kinds of things with menromantically. Maybe they could give me some pointers?
And since they know me, they know how to get me totalk, damn them—though maybe not—and so I spill my guts.
“I’m going to be Cam’s boyfriend,” I declare, not quietly at all.
I cover my mouth as fast as I can, but I still can’t stop the words, and I see them trying to process them while they gape at me.
“You have a crush on your agent?” Derek asks, his voice even gruffer than normal.
“You have a crush on aman?” Tara asks, whispering furiously and leaning almost halfway across the table. “Why have you never told me men do it for you too?” she demands.
“I don’t—theydon’t,” I protest and shake my head at least a million times.
“Then what the hell?” Derek leans back, crosses his arms, and looks as worried for me as he’s able to—still somehow looking mad, though.
He’s such a grump.
“Okay, okay.” I raise both palms out to them, and take a moment to fucking breathe and think about what I’m going to say, which isn’t something I always do, but this is important.
I don’t feel alright telling them everything Cam told me—it’s his personal shit and nobody else’s business—but I can’t just tell them I’m going to pretend to be his boyfriend for shit’s and giggles.
“He wasn’t going to go to his high school reunion because of... a situation, and having someone there withhim was going to help, so I offered and he’s thinking about it.”
There. That’s got to get them to relax, right?
“Why would you even offer?”
“He doesn’t want to go so you just steamrolled him?”
They both talk at the same time, so it takes me a minute to figure out what each of them said, but when I do, I have to cringe at Tara’s question—she has a point about me being pushy. That is part of who I am, though.
“I offered because he’s a good guy and being single is the only thing that was keeping him from going. And I believe me, he does want to go,Tara.”
Maybe it comes out a bit snippy, but she hit a nerve, and of course now I’m thinking about how to make sure Cam actually does want to go to this thing, but that’s a problem for another day.
“He was talking about seeing his old teammates.” I sit up at attention again, and this time I’m the one leaning in, excited to prove Tara wrong. “Cam played basketball in high school and college and he was really good too. He looked excited when he mentioned catching up with them, and his mom still lives in his hometown too, so I bet it’s a good place. I’ve met her lots of times, and she loves me too.”
“Well, duh,” Tara mumbles, but she looks to the side, clearly thinking about the situation.
“So it’s not set in stone yet... this isn’t happening for sure?” Derek asks.
“Not yet, but I think it’d be good for Cam to go backhome, and maybe he can see how far he’s come and why what he’s built is so impressive, you know?” I shrug.
Derek tilts his head and stares at me for an uncomfortably long moment. His dark eyes bore into me, and I have to stop myself from twitching like I have to stop myself from swiping my toes on the turf before a surprise snap so I don’t give anything away to the defense.
“You really care about him,” he says at last.
Out of the corner of my eye I see Tara snap her head back to me, and again I have to stop myself from twitching.
