He grinned down at me. “I don’t know. Your body language with carpool guy was like this neon sign flashing ‘help me, help me.’ I had no choice but to ask to cut in. Is he that gross?”
I made a face. “Yeah, super gross.” Noah was the opposite of gross. It was all I could do not to sucker fish myself against his body every second he was in my orbit, but that was exactly why I’d been trying to do the opposite since the moment we’d met—now more than ever. Noah could never know how big my crush on him had been or how much he’d hurt me when he’d grown distant. I certainly wouldn’t be falling further into a hopeless cause just because he was back and wanted to be friends again.
Denver looked over to where Noah sat watching us. The tense look on Noah’s face should have felt like sweet redemption, but all it did was twist my stomach in knots. Tonight wasn’t about punishment. It really wasn’t. I sighed a little too loudly.
“You don’t find him gross, do you?”
“No, I do not.” I was too tired to keep lying.
“Lauren said he broke your heart.”
“It was never as serious as all that. We were friends. It sort of looked like maybe we would become more, but it never happened. He moved away. Now he’s back here. End of story.”
Denver didn’t look convinced by my casual explanation. “Wanna make him jealous?”
He leaned his head down, and a million warning signs sounded in my head. “I’m not going to kiss you, Denver.” I’d meant to sound firm, but the words came out wobbly. I wasn’t a natural flirt on the best of days, and I didn't have a lot of experience with guys who were.
He laughed at my panic. “I never meant kissing, hon. There are less direct ways to make a dude jealous. Like this.” Denver’s warm breath tickled against my ear as he whispered, “All he needs to know is there’s something secret I’m telling you, and he doesn’t get to know about it.”
“I don’t want to make him jealous,” I whispered back. I didn’t want to be called hon, either. Or laughed at for my assumption. Yes, I was relieved Denver had no intention of kissing me, but the embarrassment stung, too. Once again, I’d read the signals wrong. I had assumed interest where there was none.
Denver slouched until we were eye to eye. “Jen, I’m sorry. I’m doing a terrible job of cheering you up, aren’t I?
He had no idea what was going on in my head. Which was a good thing. Pity parties were better as solo events.
“I’m fine. I promise. Um, so, did you have big Valentine’s plans you’re missing out on by being here?”
Denver shrugged. “Nah. I’m not dating anyone right now. It was this or video games. But I was actually really surprised Lauren chose Valentine’s Day for her wedding. She’s not exactly…”
“Romantic?”
“I was going to say cheesy.”
I laughed. “Will it make you feel better if I tell you this venue had a cancellation and it fit in their work schedules? Oh, and they had some sort of honeymoon deal that worked out for right after Valentine’s, too.”
“Now that sounds like Lauren and Clay.”
A silence fell between us. Not uncomfortable, but long enough that it had me worried about what to say next. Denver smiled knowingly. He knew I was nervous, and I hated that he had the ability to make me nervous. Who was I kidding? Everyone made me nervous. I had about four people in my life I felt truly comfortable with, who got me and saw the real me—the sassy, sarcastic me who wasn’t afraid to hold back. Noah used to be one of them.
“What about you?” Denver asked. “I heard you had a boyfriend. Was he busy tonight?”
How much did Lauren tell him about me, anyway? “We broke up a couple weeks ago. It was time. We just… weren’t really all that excited to see each other anymore. That sounds terrible.”
“No, I get it.”
It was sad, but I’d actually been more bummed about losing Lauren as my roommate than being dumped via text. I had likedsayingI had a boyfriend more than actuallyhavingone. And I was pretty sure he’d felt the same way about me.
Worse, once I’d realized how much he looked like Noah, with the same height, same cute dimples, same brown hair and eyes, and the same square jaw, all his appeal fell away. How could I have picked out a Noah replacement and not noticed?
Denver studied me. “I hope you know if there’s anything you need from me, anything, you can call, day or night. If it’s you, I’ll answer.”
“Thanks.”
He seemed sincere, but he was probably messing with me. Or was it flirting? Okay, no. I wouldnotask if he was flirting with me. Denver could take his shirt off right here and wave it around his head for my benefit and I would still not read into it. I was never trusting my instincts again, because they were obviously broken.
“I’m serious, Jenny. As soon as this song’s over we’re exchanging numbers.”
My traitorous eyes glanced over at Noah, knowing last year we would have rehashed a conversation like this and laughed about it. We used to tell each other everything about our day on the way home from work, and it made it all seem a lot less mundane. Talking to him had been the best part of my day. But that was before things got weird. Before Noah asked me out on a date and then cancelled it. Before he was flirty one day, and distant the next. He was still staring at us, looking ticked off. He definitely wasn’t going to like seeing me exchange numbers with Denver. Why were guys only interested when a girl played hard to get?
