She waved a hand in front of her face. “Blond-haired pretty boys who live in the gym aren’t my type. I’m more into nerdy dudes with dad bods.” Another popcorn kernel took flight and landed perfectly on her tongue. “Not as much competition from other women, and they always make me laugh.” She waggled her brows. “A sense of humor is sexy.”
Danny makes me laugh all thetime.
“Yeah, well, that’s not a bad thing considering the last few months you were with Aaron you hardly cracked a smile.”
Huh. Guess I’d said that out loud.
Slanting me a censorious stare, Zoe added, “But watching Danny with other women makes you sad and not much fun to be around.”
I gave her a slow blink.
Zoe continued as though I hadn’t responded at all. “So I agree you need to limit your time with him. Lucky for you, college athletes practice all the time—like,allthe time. Between classes and football, he’s going to be super busy. Plus, you having a job and classes means you’re busy too. By Thanksgiving, the two of you will probably be like ships passing in the night.” Patting my knee, she said, “It might be good he’s here.”
I gave her my best Austin Powers raised brow. “How do you figure?”
“You’ll see he’s just another hotshot athlete, no one special, and you’ll finally move on.”
Her breezy tone said me getting over Danny was all but a done deal. The hard lump of my heart turning over in my chest, however, said it disagreed with her. Vehemently.
But my friend was right. I needed to get over Danny. Be his friend for real rather than having more-than-friendly feelings for him. It wasn’t fair to him to freeze him out because it was easier for me. Though he hid it well, I could see that he was lonely. It came out sometimes when he talked about all the moving he and the captain did while he was growing up. He’d always called me his best friend. Now it seemed I should live up to that.
Pulling my phone out of the pocket of my hoodie, I shot off a quick text.
“Are you kidding? We’ve been discussing how you need to distance yourself from him, and you’re texting him?” Zoe’s incredulous tone bordered on a screech.
Having been friends since we were eight, she knew me all too well.
“I was being polite and replying to a text he sent hours ago. With his schedule, no doubt he’s already in bed and won’t even see it until tomorrow.” Emphasizing my nonchalance, I picked up my glass and tossed back a healthy swig of stick-your-tongue-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth wine.
My phone pinged with a text.
Wrinkling her nose, Zoe sneered. “He can still text in bed, apparently.”
I shrugged and ate more popcorn, my eyes straying to the TV where Dr.Evil had gathered his gang of misfit criminals around his silly silver table.
“Go ahead and look at it. I know you’re dying to.” Zoe tossed back her wine and headed into the kitchen for the bottle.
Danny: If I knew where you worked, I would have stopped in for coffee at yourplace.
Me: That’s okay. I can’t visit when I’m on shiftanyway.
Danny: I ended up meeting someteammates.
Me: That worked outthen.
Danny: We start practice at six in the morning, but I could still meet you for a beer or somethingnow.
Me: Negative, Ghost Rider. I have a class tomorrow at eight then I work a double. I’ll catch you later in theweek.
The dots pulsed across the corner of the screen, then:
Danny: You avoiding me for some reason, T?
I covered my hot cheeks with my hands, my eyes sliding from side to side even though I knew he couldn’t see me. Sucking in a deep breath, I steadied myself and typed back:
Me: Nope. Just busy with work and school like I told you I would be.
Zoe rejoined me on the couch, giving me the dead-eye glare from beneath her brows. “You’re ridiculous—you know that?”
