Page 111 of Getting Over You

I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose as my jaw starts to pulse. “It’s complicated.”

“I know a thing or two about complicated things,” Ava says. “Trust me.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked you out. Not before getting myself figured out first.”

Gigi would be rolling her eyesso hardright now.

And I deserve every bit.

I go to Murphy’s after dropping Ava off at her rental house. I don’t feel like going home to stare at the wall and think of Gigi and how much I screwed up, so I opt for staring at people and thinking of her instead.

I get a beer, but I can barely bring myself to drink it with the way my stomach turns. It’s like my body knows before my braindoes that alcohol drops my IQ down into the negatives. EJ’s working, and I can’t rely on him to come to my rescue simply because I’m feeling sorry for myself and need a listening ear.

“What do you want?” Rory asks when she picks up. “I’m reading.”

“I need a favor,” I say. “Can you bring Eddy to Murphy’s for me?”

“Weren’t you on a date?” she asks. “You want me to bring Ed to your date?”

“My date’s over,” I tell her, my jaw ticking. “Can you pick up Eddy at his hotel? Please? I need to talk to him about something, and he’s the only guy who will have the right answer.”

“I guess,” Rory sighs. She closes her book loud enough for me to hear. “But you owe me.”

If she was in front of me right now, she’d be flipping me off.

There’s no doubt about it.

I call Eddy next, short and sweet.

“What do ya want, kid?” he asks, voice booming into the phone, like he thinks I have a hearing problem.

I pull the phone from my ear as I say, “My friend Rory is gonna come scoop you up from your hotel. I’m in a bit of a situation.”

He grunts. “The advice kind, or the bail money kind?”

I cough. “When have I ever called and asked for bail money? Has EJ?”

“Never know,” Eddy says. “I’m prepared for it.”

I decide hanging up is better than asking more questions.

Rory gets Eddy here in record time, and he’s bitching the moment he sits beside me. “Now, why,” he moans, “did you need me here so badly, kid?”

“You want a beer first?” I ask. “Or you want me to just start firing off?”

“Oh, man.” Eddy sighs. He flags the bartender and orders a beer as he says, “What’d you do?”

“It’s what I didn’t do,” I say. “And I’m regretting it, like a damn fool.”

I tell Eddy every piece, from meeting Gigi and abhorring her lovesick personality, to realizing I don’t mind making her eyes roll in more ways than one.

“But I’m a drunken bastard,” I groan. “So, now, I’m asking you what the hell I do. I’ve never been here before, man. I don’t know what I’msupposedto do.”

“What’s your brain tellin’ ya?” he asks.

“That I’m an asshole and she’s better off without me ruining her life.”

“Did you?” Eddy asks. “Ruin that girl’s life? The one you’ve been telling your ma about? That’s a big claim, kid.”

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