Page 11 of Wolf's Forbidden Curse

“Really?” I laughed. “Even though you were the one claiming it was a school night.”

“I can admit when I’m wrong. I actually had a nice time, and I’m feeling better about getting through the last couple of weeks before summer break. It was just the right amount of fun, and now we’re back here to catch the nightly news. My kind of night.” He then smirked in my direction. “I’m sorry that you, on the other hand, didn’t have that much fun.”

Nic frowned. “What do you mean?” She shot me a look. “You didn’t have fun? Why not?”

“I did have fun!” I forced a laugh, hoping it sounded casual. “I don’t know what Matt’s even talking about.”

“Oh, c’mon,” Matt said. “You and I both know the only reason you were fine with coming home so early is because you were all bummed out.”

“Why would he be bummed out?”

“Because that cutie at Smart Choice totally snubbed him.”

“That’s not true.” I shook my head. “I wasn’t bummed out! I don’t care that she wasn’t into me. There are plenty of women who are, and honestly, now that I’m thinking about it, I’m not even sure she really snubbed me. I think she might’ve just been too stressed out because it was her first shift on the job. She couldn’t focus on anything but that, so, of course, she wasn’t in the mood to be chatted up. Even by someone as hot as me.” I smiled and ran my hand down the sides of my chin to emphasize my point.

“A bartender turned you down?” Nic looked more surprised than I was by this fact. “The one you spilled the drinks on?”

“Yup,” said Matt. “Big time.”

“Oh, whatever.” I took a bite out of the pizza slice but talked with my mouth full. “Remind me not to invite you out drinking next time. I forgot that you’re kind of a snarky drunk. I don’t like this side of you, my friend. Not one bit.”

“Hold on,” Nic said, raising her hands to slow this moving train. She was drunker than the rest of us, and it was starting to show. Her face was flushed a deep red, and she was gesticulating a little too much. “Back this bus up. You were hitting on that girl?”

“Uh, yeah. Why?”

“I just—I didn’t see you talking to her that much. You spilled the drinks, then she ran upstairs, and that was it. When did you even have time to get rejected? Don’t tell me you tried to pick her up while she was still covered in beer and shards of glass.”

“Nah, he went back to Smart Choice,” Matt said. So much for keeping my little escape a secret.

“Huh?”

“When we were at the last bar, he said he was going to the bathroom but actually went to go talk to the girl again.”

Nic put a hand to her head and closed her eyes as if she really had to focus in order to make sense of all of this. “You—you left the three of us at the other bar and went back there? Just to talk to that girl?”

“Guilty as charged,” I said. “Maybe it was my over-eagerness that did me in, but she was just so goddamn pretty. I couldn’t help myself. I had to at least try once more.”

“Too bad it didn’t work out,” Matt said. “You two would’ve made beautiful babies.”

“Wouldn’t we, though?” I said with a laugh.

“She wasn’t even that pretty.” Nic tossed her half-eaten slice of pizza back into the box and stood. “On second thought, I’m not hungry.”

“First of all,” I said. “Yes, she was. And second of all, you should really eat something.” I smiled up at her, picking up on some tension in the room but too tipsy to really know where it was coming from or what to do about it. “Otherwise, you’re going to feel like shit in the morning.”

“I’ll be fine,” she grumbled. “Night.”

She left the room and headed upstairs. Her door slammed shut a few seconds later. Matt and I shared a look.

“What’s her problem?” I asked.

“Beats me.” He grabbed her half-eaten slice of pizza and took a bite. “But hey, more food for us, right?”

I shrugged. “Guess so. You don’t think she’s mad at us, though, do you? Because I hate it when she’s mad at me. She gives me the silent treatment, which drives me nuts.”

“Why would she be mad at us? We didn’t do anything?”

“That hasn’t stopped her from being mad at us in the past.”

---