Page 4 of I'd Never Date my Brother's Best Friend

I scrunch my face. “You have questionable taste in music, Evie. I thought we agreed on that.”

She lets out a hearty laugh and throws her head back, giving in to the amusement she has at my current situation. Her carefree and unbridled personality is something else she shares with Sean and Liam. They all seem to be able to laugh easily, regardless of where they are, and without a care if anyone is staring at them. I’m the exact opposite and I hardly find anything funny. It’s a wonder that Evelyn and I are such besties.

“Okay,” Evelyn calls my attention again. “Guess what?”

“What?” I stare blankly at her, holding back my smile when I see her lips curl up cheekily.

“How about I plan a girls’ night this weekend? We’ll order in, watch movies, do a mani/pedi, and talk all night. Maybe that’ll help?”

“It won’t,” I say decisively. “But I love hanging out with you, so I’m down whenever. I’ll bring the wine–” Then I clear my throat and narrow my eyes at her. “I, however, draw the line at watching silly rom-coms with you.”

When she starts complaining, I shake my head firmly and stand my ground. “Evelyn O’Connell, I love you to death, but I will not sit through a rom-com with you; that’s the end of it.”

Evelyn pouts and glares at me. “Have you stopped to think that your love life might be going so bad because you hate romance so much?”

A rare trickle of laughter pops out of me, and I pick up a piece of paper, roll it into a ball and throw it at her. She puts her hands up to block and laughs at me.

“What? I’m just trying to help! You’ve got to let me help you.”

As funny as it is, this isn’t a joke. My inability to find a boyfriend who fits me is another area of my life that frustrates me. My writer’s block is bad, but my love life is worse. I’ve been in a series of relationships and flings, the latest being Marlon, the blind date my agent set me up with.

“Oh speaking of, did I tell you how my date with Marlon went?”

Evelyn leans on her desk and rests her face on her hands. “We were talking about writer’s block and I didn’t want to ask. Now that you’ve brought it up, tell me, tell me.”

“He was horrible,” I say, causing Evelyn to dissolve into another fit of laughter. “I think I only said one word throughout our entire date. Well, maybe five with me ordering. He wouldn’t let me get one word in.”

“What?”

“Girl—as soon as I said ‘hello’ and sat down, he started bombarding me with details about his successful life as a lawyer while flashing his expensive watch at me. I think at this point I know more about being a lawyer than I thought possible. It was awful.”

Evelyn frowns. “Did you tell him about this after the date?”

“I haven’t got time for that, Evie. I blocked him in the parking lot on my way home.”

“That’s my girl,” Evelyn whoops. “We don’t waste a second more than necessary on men with zero potential.”

“Especially after Dillon?” I sneer and shake my head remembering what happened with him. “I’d be an utter fool to do that.”

Dillion was my last actual boyfriend, and we dated for three months before I found out he didn’t want to have kids. He hated kids, period. I mean, I don’t have kids yet, and right now, I agree that they’re noisy little devils, but I do love them and want them sometime in the future. I wasn’t completely in love with Dillion, but I was well on my way there. Maybe I was more in love with the idea of being in love actually. Either way, thank goodness I found that out early on before I was in love with him. I’ve never ended a relationship so fast in my life.

“Okay,” Evelyn says, bringing the topic back to our girls’ night. “We can come to a compromise. We’ll watch one thriller and one romance movie. How’s that?”

I bite my lip as I consider it and Evie laughs at me. I’m not selfish, but I really don’t like romance movies. I gravitate more toward movies that tend to be suspenseful, heavily plotted, and get my blood-pumping. Romance movies are…unrealistic if you ask me. But Evelyn is watching me with hopeful eyes, and I’ve never been able to refuse her anything. “Okay, fine. I hate you.”

“I love you.” She blows me a kiss. “You can pick out the thriller; I’ll pick out the romance.”

“I think I should pick the romance movie.” She starts to argue, but I raise a finger. “You always manage to pick the sappiest, sloppiest, impractical flick of the bunch. I can’t sit through another night of you crying into your tissue because the hero falls madly in love with the heroine. No. Nope. Can’t do it.”

Evelyn is laughing, but I don’t see how any of this is funny. “I was thinking we should watch Web of Love. It’s been out for a while, but I haven’t watched it.”

Web of Love. My heart skips a beat.

“You haven’t heard of it?” Evelyn asks, taking my silence for ignorance. “It’s the new movie my brother just starred in. It’s—”

“I’ve heard of it,” I blurt, losing control of my mouth and mind. “I’ve seen it too.”

Evelyn’s mouth falls open, and I realize a little too late that I shouldn’t have said anything. Of course Evelyn would find some hidden meaning in me watching one of Sean’s movies.

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