Page 18 of Fight for Forever

“So why wouldn’t you have a crush on him?” she asks. “Wait, is he the guy who’s training you?”

My cheeks flush and she grins. “Oh, that is fucking perfect.”

“Perfect? What?” My eyes widen. “Are you kidding me? I can barely look at him since the other night-” I slap a hand over my mouth. Shit.

“Okay,” Brooke sets her coffee down and straightens up in her seat. “Let’s get one thing straight right now, Megan Cooper,” she says in that stern voice she reserves for the court room. “This here,” she points between us. “Is a sacred friendship. With Jenna and Elsa, you’re in the circle of girlfriend trust and it’s a sin not to tell the others what is going on when it comes to guys.”

I chuckle, relaxing when I realise she is not about to tick me off. Well, she is, but not in the way I’m used to being reprimanded.

“Spill,” she gets comfortable in her seat again.

After taking a deep breath, I tell her everything. Right down to the fact I stole Joey’s t-shirt. Brooke’s grin only gets wider when she hears that. Before she responds, she takes out her phone. I stare at her for a moment, wondering what she’s doing.

“Oh, damn.” She turns her phone around and shows me a picture of Joey.

It’s a promotional shot he has for fights. He’s only wearing red and black boxing shorts, his hands are taped up and he is mock punching towards the camera, so one of his fists looks bigger than the other. His muscles look more pumped up than normal, and there is a fine sheen over his tanned skin. My heart thuds as I stare at his piercing eyes.

That isn’t the real Joey. I’ve seen a completely different side of him to this fierce, tough looking fighter. But my stomach flutters at the sight of his bare muscled chest and abs.

“Real talk.” She sets the phone down and puts both elbows on the table, folding one forearm over the other. “Do you like him?”

“I think we just established that. And that I made a complete fool of myself.”

“No you didn’t.”

“I stole his t-shirt!” I half shriek, then glance around in case anyone overheard.

“Meg, he will be thrilled about that.”

“How so?”

“Men are idiots when a woman they like wears their clothes.”

“He doesn’t like me like that.”

Her brow lifts again.

“I mean… How do I know if he likes me like that?” I ask anxiously.

Brooke contemplates me for a moment. If it were her, she’d outright ask him. Or flirt with him. Brooke isn’t shy when it comes to men. She doesn’t sleep around or date constantly, but she has flirting game down. She isn’t scared to approach someone she likes, whether it’s something that will work out or not.

So many times I’ve wished I could be like her.

“Okay, let’s think about this. He could train you at the gym, but he chose to do it at his place. He’s told you a lot of information about himself. No guy who is just training someone would do that. He let you spend the night at his apartment, and sleep in his clothes. That isn’t about repaying you for looking after him when he is sick. Maybe he’s a conscientious guy who worried about you getting home so late, but in my experience, men don’t think about shit like that unless they’re interested.”

I bite my lip. Is she right? Could he like me? I’m such an idiot that I can’t even see when someone is just being nice, or if they like me… for other reasons. But he hasn’t ever said or done anything to make me think he likes me too. Has he?

There were times before Michael came back that Joey talked with me, watched me. At first I’d been unnerved by the attention, but as the weeks went on, I’d kind of started hoping he’d look over when I was working out with Jenna. And he did.

All the times he caught me looking at him aren’t because he was going to talk to me. It’s because he was looking at me too. Shit, does he like me, and I’m so dumb I haven’t realized it?

Brooke lets out a breath. “Hepaid your bail money.”

“That doesn’t mean he likes me,” I whisper, looking towards the window.

“Meg.”

Slowly, I turn back to her.

---