Page 12 of Friend Zone to End Zone

“Really?” The look on her face told me she wasn’t quite sure she could believe me.

So I put the mirror back on the table and gave her my most convincing look. “You did great. It’s actually way better than I imagined.”

“You thought I was going to butcher your hair, didn’t you?” She stuck her hands on her hips.

“I may have had a nightmare or two about it last night.” I grinned wickedly at her.

She smacked my shoulder. “Oh, ye of little faith.”

Then she removed the cape from my neck—the soft touch of her fingers sending tingles racing across my skin.

I bent forward and ran my hand through my hair a few times, to get out all the stray hairs the clippers had left behind. While Arianna took care of the haircutting tools, I grabbed the broom and dustpan nearby and started sweeping up all the dark hair that had been a part of me thirty minutes ago.

Once everything was all cleaned up, I followed Arianna inside for a glass of ice water.

“So,” Arianna said after taking a sip of water. “Now that we’ve taken care of the hair, it’s probably time for you to start asking girls out.”

“You think?” I set my glass on the counter and leaned against the cupboards. “Because I was thinking I might just look a littletoogood for anyone right now.”

She rolled her eyes, but I noticed her gaze catching on my face a moment longer than usual—like she was actually noticing how I looked for a change.

“So you’re going to be that guy now?” she asked.

I laughed. “You know I’m just kidding.”

“Should we go through your app now? Or do you want to try meeting someone in person this week?”

I didn’t really want to do either of those things, but I said, “I suppose I could try meeting someone the old-fashioned way.”

Her whole face lit up. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

“Why?” I asked, feeling slightly confused since she had been the one pushing me toward the online dating app in the first place.

But she got a sneaky look on her face and said, “Because if I’m going to be a proper dating coach, I really should watch the whole process so I can know what to help you work on in our coaching sessions.”

Well, no pressure there.

“You’re going to spy on me?”

“Not in, like, a creepy way,” she hurried to say. “But the girls from the salon invited me to go with them to the club on Tuesday night. So if you came along and just happened to find someone you were interested in while I was close by to watch, it would give me some good insights into figuring out why you’ve been single for so long.”

“So you’re already planning on me bombing the date?”

“It’s been almost a year since you’ve been on one. While I know what an amazing catch you are for any girl, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that you might be a little rusty.”

My mind wanted to linger on the way she’d said I was an “amazing catch” but I pushed it to the side for later dissection. “Okay. Just tell me the time and place, and I’ll try to put my best date face on.”

6

Arianna

“Areyou doing another live video tonight?” Cole asked me as he came out of my bathroom and into the kitchen, toweling his dark hair dry after giving it a quick wash in the tub.

“Chad’s coming over after his golf game, and we’re going to do another one of our relationship Q&As,” I said, shredding the chicken for the enchiladas I was making.

“Your followers really eat those up, don’t they?” Cole sat on the barstool across from me. He set the towel on the stool beside him and ran his fingers through his hair a few times to style it a bit.

“I think so.” I shrugged as I pulled another chicken breast from the crockpot, trying to look busy so he wouldn’t notice me staring at him and his new hairstyle. Because, while I’d always imagined he’d look great with short hair, I hadn’t expected him to lookthisgood.

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