Page 18 of Hazel and Elijah Find Out: First They F*cked Around

He cringed, his lips pulling to one side. “Dirt roads.”

Snorting, I nodded. “All right, fine.”

“You gonna… I don’t know, go feed the wildlife or somethin’?”

“Why would I feed the wildlife?”

“I don’t know what those countryfolk do for fun.”

“We don’t feed wildlife.”

“We…” He narrowed his eyes at the camera. “I don’t like thiswe.”

“Don’t worry. You’re still my number one.”

“Damn straight.”

“You getting drinks with your brother?”

Sebastian’s brother, Angelo, was always looking for a fun time, even more than Seb.

He nodded. “Yeah, I showed up twenty minutes late, and he’s still not here. What are you doing?”

“Gonna take it easy tonight. Stay in, grill a steak, watch TV.”

“What? Hit up your friends. Don’t get old on me.”

“I was invited to hang out, but I feel like chillin’.”

His eyebrows drew together in a sympathetic look. “So, your veterinarian chick still didn’t call or anything?”

I didn’t like the way my stomach sank as he pointed it out. He was right, but I didn’t like it. “Why would you assume that?”

“Because if she had, that mess on your face would be shaved and your hair wouldn’t be in such a sad state. You’d be lookin’ sharp and out the door.”

“Come on, I’m not that bad.”

“It’s been many a drunken night of, ‘Goddamn it, I can’t get her out of my head.’” Sebastian’s imitation of me was not flattering. I sounded like a dope.

I couldn’t help but smile. “All right, I’m not sticking around for this kind of abuse.”

“You should go out, have fun.”

“Got it, Seb.”

We said our goodbyes and hung up.

Silence echoed through the empty cabin—bouncing off the walls like an unwelcome house guest, leaving too much room for my own thoughts.

Striding into the kitchen, I pulled the steak out of the fridge to prepare for grilling. I’d use food and drink to distract myself. Take a little time to focus on a good meal, and not the jackass I’ve been, moping over a woman who didn’t have any interest in me.

Music, that was what I needed. I leaned my hip against the counter and took my phone out of my pocket. I clicked the app and was about to search for an Outkast playlist when I realized there was an unread text message. I must have not felt my phone buzz.

Are you coming out to Benji’s tonight?Hazel had sent it just a few minutes before.

I gazed down at the steak on the counter. It felt like she’d made it clear that she wasn’t as into me as I was into her. I’d tried to see her for lunch the other day, and she put up roadblock after roadblock. Then, with each day passing without contact, it grew more obvious that there wasn’t anything real between us. I’d fabricated the whole thing, and it was nothing more than a sad, one-sided infatuation.

If she was asking me out now, it was probably the equivalent of a booty call. Which I told myself I couldn’t do. But now that the option was in front of me, it seemed possible that I could.

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