Page 49 of Friend Zone to End Zone

I pressed my eyes shut. Pinched the bridge of my nose with my thumb and forefinger as I tried to figure out how to come away from this with some shred of dignity.

After drawing in a deep breath, I opened my eyes again and worked hard to smooth my expression.

“Okay,” I said, looking at the abstract painting on the wall beside her head. “Just, um…”

Was there anything I could say to fix this? She’d never want to see me again.

Would she risk driving home in the blizzard to get away from me?

I shook my head and made myself meet her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” was all I could think to say. “I must have had too much to drink tonight. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

This was why I never put myself out there. This feeling right here.Thiswasexactlywhy I didn’t put myself out there when it came to matters of the heart.

Because I always wanted the girl who would never want me back.

“I, um, I’m just going to head to bed now,” I said, looking at the painting on the wall again. “Just forget any of this happened…if that’s possible. It was a mistake.”

And before I could see any more pity in her eyes, I walked out of the room and down the hall to lock myself inside my own room.

I was just grateful I had a big game to prepare for this week. It would give me a good excuse not to see her for a while.

If she ever wanted to see me again.

21

Cole

Present Day

“Man, that’s brutal,”Ethan said, when I’d finished telling him all about my night of shame.

“Not exactly my favorite memory,” I admitted.

“And she never said anything about it?”

I took a sip from my pineapple margarita and shook my head. “Not a word.” I set my drink on the bar. “I found excuses to stay away for a few weeks after that, but then things went pretty much back to the way they were before. She went back to Chad, and I kept pretending like I really had just been too drunk that night.”

“Really?” Ethan leaned back. “I guess that’s a good thing?”

I shrugged. “Better than having her blocking me on her phone, I guess.”

Ethan seemed to think everything over for a moment before he said, “So I’m guessing you probably don’t want to try my go-to method of just laying everything out there and letting the chips fall where they may.”

I shook my head. “I think that kiss was me basically doing that.”

“Yeah, I guess.” He thought again. “So you’ve tried having her be your dating coach?”

I nodded.

“And you’re going to a party to pretend you’ve been romantically entangled for a while to make Chad jealous?”

“Yes.”

Ethan drummed his piano-playing fingers on the bar. “Then I guess it only makes sense that you should mash the dating coach and the fake-date thing together and try to woo her that way.”

“And how would I do this wooing?” I asked, the old-fashioned word sounding weird coming from my lips.

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