I pushed up my glasses and backed up. “Oh, sorry. You are generally respectful from what I’ve noticed. I’m his friend, Zero.”
“Thank you for the addition,” the waiter said, angling Sal to close me off from the circle. “Anyway, tell us about yourselves, ladies? What’re you drinking?”
Sal gave his friend an exasperated look, then focused on the girls. “Where are you from?”
No wonder he wanted someone to protect him from a handsy friend. I crossed my arms. What could I do here that made sense? I couldn’t hook him up with someone, nor could I kick his ‘wingman’s’ ass in case they were actually friends.
Someone gesturing like, ‘what the hell’ caught my attention down thebar. Ash waved me over, her brow furrowed. Oh no. Did I do something wrong? Again?
“Excuse me,” I said, touching Sal’s arm so he’d know I was leaving.
“Oh, right.” He shuffled in place, glancing blankly from me to Ash. Was he even listening to his friend or either of these girls?
She raised her eyebrows at me and gestured widely. “You broke up Sal and Janice?”
Panic pulsed through my joints, freezing me in place. “No, I didn’t.”
“So, the same day you have a coffee date and ‘help’ him with the present–”
“It wasn’t a date.”
“Why, because you got in a fight about his relationship?” She challenged, leaning forward with her hands on her hips.
Damn, she had nerves of steel. I pushed up my glasses, my stomach in knots. “He didn’t leave her.” Especially not for me. “And she didn’t break up with him just because of a well-crafted present. I don’t sabotage things on purpose.”
“If you did, I’d almost be tempted to give you a raise.” She pointed at me and reached for her glass. “I won’t, because it’s not work related.”
“And wrong.”
“Yes, that.” She smirked, then took a long drag of her drink. “So, Sal’s single now.”
“So it seems.” I sighed and eyed the pickup artist down the bar. “For now.”
The circle laughed at something he said. One girl flipped her hair and touched his arm.
Ugh. He made friends so fucking easily. He could probably find someone to go home with him within five minutes, especially if he had that waiter’s help.
Sal caught my eye and forced a thin-lipped smile. It wasn’t real. He was pretending. So he could make other people happy. This stuff wasn’t good for him. I frowned and waved.
“He needs pizza and ice cream, not pity sex,” I ranted.
“Might be good for him. Get stuff out of his system,” Ash said, annoyingly light-hearted.
I turned on her. “He’s your friend. Don’t you care about him?”
“Not the same way you do, I guess.” She smiled.
There was nothing charming about this. I scowled. “What if he latches onto one of those girls and they turn out to be even worse than Janice?”
“You can’t talk anyone into or out of a crush. It’s natural chemistry.” She flicked the brim of my hat up to bare more of my face to the yellowed bar lights. “Nice lipstick, by the way,” she said.
“It’s lip balm,” I muttered, tugging my cap down to fight the burn of halogen on my cheeks. At least someone noticed my efforts.
When I tried to spy on Sal, I caught him staring at me.
He flinched, then hyper-focused on the girls in front of him. “Huh. So interesting.”
“Sal owns a toy store. You ladies love toys, don’t you? Especially ones that buzz,” the waiter teased.
