Page 51 of Loathe at First Sight

“Love?” She asks. “Wow, you just jump right to it, don’t you? Why don’t you just go and have some fun?”

“What is this fun of which you speak?” I joke.

She laughs. “It may not be bad to get all dolled up for the night and see what kind of trouble you can get into.”

“I’ll think about it.”

We say a quick goodbye, and I return to my seat behind the desk to prop my foot back up. I grab the flyer to read through it again.

No, I’m not looking for love, but maybe a singles night wouldn’t be bad. I figure if I try to assimilate back into the town, maybe everyone will stop with the gossip behind my back.

And maybe I could find someone to go to bed with—even if only for a night. I do miss sex.

Alright.

Singles night, here I come.

eighteen

Looking but NOT Touching

Jack

What the hell am I doing at a singles night?

I shouldn’t be here. I have no intention of dating, and I certainly don’t want to give any of these women the wrong idea. But all of the guys from the shop were coming and convinced me—if for nothing else than just to grab a couple of drinks. At first, I thought we were all going just to goof on this whole thing, but as the week has gone on, it seems that everyone else is taking it more seriously than I am.

But I’m nothing if not a team player, so here I am.

I look around at the converted town hall. Truth be told, it’s not much more than an old wooden pole barn, but it cleans up nicely. Every time there’s any type of event, they hang up some pretty string lights and replace the typical rows of chairs with some tables. Since there aren’t a lot of event areas nearby, a lot of people have weddings and baby showers here.

Wasting no time, I walk over to the open bar and get myself a beer. I barely have time to do anything else before Misty shows up by my side.

“Well, well, well, look who decided to show up.” She beams from ear to ear.

“Yeah, I made a promise to the guys at work that I’d make an appearance,” I reply, taking the first sip of what I’m sure will be many.

“You think you’ll still be single by the end of the night?” She looks up at me, trying to give me her very best Bambi eyes.

“Oh, I’m sure I will be,” I reply with complete certainty.

“Maybe if we are both still single, we can go rattle my headboard for the night.”

Here we go again.

“Misty,” I begin, knowing what I’m about to say may not be very nice, but it needs to be said anyway. “I know you and I had fun that night, but we were drunk. I was wasted, and it shouldn’t have happened. We are friends. Let’s keep it that way. I don’t want to have this conversation again.”

At this point, most women would storm off while telling me how much of an asshole I am. But yet again, Misty is much too sweet for that. She just puts on her fake smile and says, “Okay, then. Have a good night.”

I don’t know if I’ll ever stop regretting that she and I slept together. That’s what I get for thinking with my downstairs head rather than the upstairs one.

I lean against the edge of the long bar and look around as the room slowly starts to fill up. A couple of the guys from the shop are here, but they seem to already be hitting on some of the eligible ladies, so I opt to leave them alone.

Maybe all of them will be easily distracted, and I can slip out without staying too long. Going home and spending the evening curled up on the couch with Ellie sounds like a better time. At least, there, I can’t get into any trouble.

Something to my right catches my eye. When I look over, I about choke on the drink of beer I just took. Liz Lawson comes strolling up to the bar looking like a whole damn snack.

Talk about trouble.

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