“Man, lawyers are hot.” I down the rest of my water, suddenly feeling parched as my face feels flushed. “Maybe Istillhave a crush on her.”
“Please just shut up,” he snaps, shuddering. “It’s too weird. Let’s talk about something else. Besides, she’s three years younger than you.”
“So? Age is just a number, and three years is no big deal.” I furrow my brow. “I would say I’d start drawing the line at like six years either way. I wouldn’t want to date anyone younger than twenty-four or older than thirty-six.”
Parker stares at his menu, like he doesn’t even hear me. I blow out a sigh, and pick up my own menu, perusing through the options. Honestly, I’m not all that hungry. As we sit in totalsilence, Parker lost in thought—probably about that girl Amy he met at one of the speed dating events I dragged him to—my phone buzzes in my pocket. I pick it up and open the reminder email notification.
Want to ice skate and date? Sign up now for Singles at the Rink!
I chew the inside of my cheek, thinking it over. After last night, with the wholeexperimentdebacle, I’m a little leery of just jumping right into something again.
But also…ice skating sounds fun.
And Parker could invite Amy. She’s pretty cool, albeit a little naïve, but the two seem to have a good vibe, despite Parker being a total jerk. I mean, the two could not be more different. She’s a bucket of sunshine and Parker is … well, a walking storm cloud. But last time the three of us were together, they made some wild bet about whether or not she can find a boyfriend by Valentine’s Day.
“So, when are you seeing Amy again?” I ask, breaking the silence.
“We’re going ice skating tomorrow evening.”
He gets the emails, too!“I knew it—”
“It’s just another hapless singles event.” Parker cuts me off. “Hopefully, she’ll find someone.”
“Yeah, okay.” I frown, having assumed they were going together. “I kind of want to go, just to see what happens. Wait…” A lightbulb goes off in my head. “Is Brittany going?” I haven’t seen her in years; it would be nice to catch up.
Parker side-eyes me then, giving me his bestI might murder youlook. “I don’t know.”
I nod, grabbing my water and taking a long gulp. “Well, I’mdefinitelygoing now. I already know it’s gonna be a wild time.” I try to play it off, like I’m not excited at the prospect of seeing his sister again … in just a friendly way.
But clearly, Parker doesn’t understand that.
“I’m not kidding, Wes. Stay away from her. She’s vulnerable, and you’re desperate. That isnota good combination. If anything, that’s a recipe for disaster. Then I’ll never be able to have you two in the same room again.”
There’s that word again …desperate.
I frown, mulling that over. “I don’t hold things over peoples’ heads. I’d never make it that weird between us.”
He ignores me, and we both dig into our sandwiches. I eat silently, a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. As much as Parker wants to complain about his situation, he’s surrounded by people. They all want to hang out with him, and Amy would probably fall head over heels for him if he weren’t being so stubborn…
But me? Parker is pretty much theonlyclose friend I have in this city. At least, the only close friend who’s in a similar life stage as me. Everyone else we know is coupled up, and it sucks.But why does it make me desperate to not want to be alone all the time?I swallow a bite of my sandwich, wincing at the spicy mustard that’s a little too much.
My thoughts shift back to Parker’s sister, wondering what she looks like these days. She and Parker haven’t exactly been close. Not in the past several years, anyway. I’m sure she probably has a Facebook I could look up, but I don’t spend much time on social media, and I’m definitely not the kind of guy who likes to creep on women.
I wonder how Brittany spends her time…
“You good?” Parker looks up, his brows furrowed. “You almost seem lost in your head. You only do that if you’ve got something going on.”
I meet his gaze and then shrug. “Nah, not a lot going on right now. I just had a crappy experience with that whole speed dating thing I dropped into. I thought I found a genuine connectionand it turned out she was just using me as an experiment for her psychology class.”
“Ouch.” Parker cringes, shaking his head. “That’s kind of cold.”
“You think?” I laugh. “I’d much rather have flat-out rejection than someone screwing with my head and leading me on for research purposes. That’s tough.”
“Life is tough,” Parker says flatly. “Which is exactly why we should torture ourselves even more and go ice skating.”
I chuckle. “Fair enough. I guess I’ll meet you at the rink.”
Chapter Three
