I waited for her to finish.
After sitting there in silence for a minute, Shelly quietly said, “When I was coming back in through the front door, she and herfriends walked in at the same time and she elbowed me into the railing.”
Shelly frowned. “Then she looked right through me like I wasn’t even standing there. No apology.Nothing.It was rude. And I didn’t like the idea of her sliding her body all up and down you after she was nasty to me.”
Something went very still inside me.
I thought about Shelly standing outside the Bear Den, getting knocked into the railing by some woman who didn’t even have the decency to say sorry.
“Shelly,” I growled. “I wouldnevergo home with someone who disrespected you like that.”
She picked up her mug, staring into it. “I’m not trying to cock-block you.”
And there it was. I finally understood.
Shelly was the one who always friend-zoned me.
It didn’t come from my end.
Even right now, while we were supposed to be fake-dating each other, I was still in the friend zone.
“You don’t get to talk that way while we’re fake-dating,” I rumbled. “I’m not supposed to be your friend right now. I’m supposed to be yourboyfriend. Would you say that to a boyfriend?”
The blush that moved across her face told me she heard me loud and clear.
“Is she why you came on so strong that night?” I asked.
She sighed. “Yeah. It was all because of Pink Shirt.”
“Pink Shirt?”
“That’s what I started calling her in my head.”
I laughed, and then Shelly laughed too, and the tension between us eased back into something comfortable. I kept Shelly’s hand in mine and thought about the fact that we had less than a week left of our thirty days.
Shelly slipped off to the bathroom while I thought about our whole experiment.
The end date was killing me.
The biggest problem with our fake relationship was that it didn’t feel fake anymore.
And the even bigger issue was that I didn’t know if she felt the same way… or if I was the only one who’d forgotten this was supposed to end.
I’d dropped hints.
More than hints, if I were being honest.
I’d told her she could be my number two for life.
I’d told her we should date forever.
I’deventaken her to my momma’s Sunday dinner table, which I’d never done before in my life, and my momma had looked at Shelly like she’d hung the moon.
But Shelly had laughed every time I’d said something real, like I was just tossing a joke out there between us. And I had no idea what it was going to take to make her believe I actually meant it.
Chapter 9
Shelly
