“Wow, he’s a real winner, huh?”
“You took the words right out of my mouth.”
I cleared my throat as I aimed for the orange solid ball. “How did this Prince Charming compare to Puffy Coat Guy?”
Jackson let out a moan of despair. “You had to bring up Puffy Coat Guy, didn’t you?” He’d once dated a guy who’d worn the world’s largest puffy coat on their date, the kind made of windbreaker material, and the guy had refused to take it off, even though it was about eighty degrees outside. Jackson had reported a lot of sweating from that guy and had zero interest in sex with him. “I guess Prince Charming wasn’t as bad as that. But it’s a close call.” He turned the conversation’s focus on me. “What about you? Any dates lately? Decent or disaster. Spill.”
I grimaced and thought back to my last date. Shelby. She was perfectly nice. The date wasn’t miserable or weird, unlike Jackson’s endless string of bad luck. We got along well enough. The date was just… okay. “Meh,” I said with a shrug.
“Meh? That’s all you’re giving me? Meh?”
I chuckled and shook my head. “I don’t know what else you want me to say. It was fine.”
“Fine?”
I huffed out a breath. “Are you just going to repeat everything I say for the rest of the night?”
Jackson tapped his cue stick against the floor. “Come on, man. Give me something to go on.”
“Okay, fine. Have it your way. I picked her up and took her to dinner, that burger place in downtown. The one with the really great milkshakes. Then we went to the Radiance to see a movie… something with zombies. I don’t know. She picked it. Then after that, we walked around for a while and I took her to the cupcake place for dessert. Then I took her home. It was fine.”
He scoffed. “That sounds like a great date. What went wrong?”
I leaned over the pool table and attempted to line up another shot. “No spark.” I missed the shot, the cue ball careening past my ball and across the table.
“Did you at least kiss her goodnight? Hold her hand while you were walking around? Put your arm around her while you were at the theater? Anything at all?”
I cringed and shook my head. “It didn’t feel right. It would have been like kissing my cousin or something. I don’t know. It was totally platonic.”
“Alright, alright. I get it. No spark. No feelings. Jeez, man. We’ve got to find you the right woman for the job. I know she’s out there. Besides, we both need to get laid. It’s been too long.”
“Whatever you say.” I rolled my eyes. My hand did the job well enough. I wasn’t desperate to go fuck just anyone because I was going through a dry spell.
Jackson flipped me the bird and grinned before leaning in again and taking his shot. After a few more minutes, he won the game, tucking the eight ball neatly into a corner pocket. There wasn’t a wait to get to the table, so we’d be free to play another round, but my drink was empty. I raised my bottle a little, gesturing to Jackson.
“Want anything? I’m going to go get a refill.”
“Thanks, man. Grab me another too?”
“You got it.”
I made my way slowly through to the bar, past the people dancing and swaying to the music. On my way, a hand grabbed my ass. I spun to see who’d groped me and saw a petite blonde woman looking up at me with big blue eyes and giggling.
“Oops,” she said, winking at me and raising her eyebrows hopefully.
I frowned deeply, brow furrowing. “It’s not polite to touch people without consent. Especially not on their ass.” Abashed, she mumbled an apology, cheeks flaming red. I nodded and continued on my route to the bar.
The stools were all occupied, mostly by the aforementioned young people moving into the city from nearby, to take advantage of our arts scene, our small-town feel, and of course, attempt to be cast as an extra onHeartland Overhaul. I stood at the far end of the bar, waiting for a space to open up so I could order. In the meantime, I glanced idly around.
Nobody in particular caught my interest and I wondered about what Jackson had said. Was the right woman for me out there somewhere? Maybe in this very bar? I’d never felt much of a spark with any of the women I’d dated. I wanted to, but it had never happened. I wondered if the issue was more me or them.Just because you don’t have insta-lust with every woman you date doesn’t mean there’s an issue,I reassured myself.You’ll get there one day.Then again, I’d recently hit my thirty-fifth birthday. I didn’t know how much longer I wanted to wait.
I glanced at Jackson again and he gave me a nod. I found myself wishing I was as confident in relationships as he was. Even with one disaster after another, Jackson never doubted what he wanted or who he wanted it from. Me, on the other hand? Some days nothing made sense.
The person in front of me moved away and I stepped into the empty space at the bar, leaning on my forearms to wait. The guy sitting at the bar next to me, tall and lean with short dark hair that looked soft enough to run my fingers through, took a glass from the bartender, and watching as if it was in slow-motion, I saw the glass slip out of his hands, dousing me with what smelled like gin.
“Oh my God, I am so sorry.”
Chapter 2 - Micah
