Page 8 of The Perfect Love

“I tried to get her to come.”

“She needs to find her own path. And her and Mackenzie sharing a house would be complicated.”

“I know.”

Amanda rolls her eyes. “You can’t solve Hyla’s problems for her, so focus on yourself. Channel your egotistical side. Weren’t you just telling me how great you are?”

“Stupendous, really.”

“That’s how you should hit on girls. Just walk up to them and tell them you’re stupendous and they should be honored to spend time in your presence. I promise it’ll work.”

“Sounds very effective at getting me slapped.”

“Oh, did I say it would work? I meant it would work at entertaining me.”

“I hate you.”

“Lies.”

“How’s Jamie?”

I swear hearts appear in her eyes at the mention of his name, but then her face falls a little, and she swallows hard. “He’s ahh… he’s fine.”

“Mands.”

“What? He’s busy and fine.”

“You can talk about it. How’s he settling in with the Knights?”

Amanda bites her lip, still looking unsure. Her boyfriend, Jamie, was drafted by the New York Metros right out of high school. He’s currently settling in with the triple-A team near our hometown, The Binghamton Knights.

“He’s having a great time. He was worried about settling in, but he’s killing it.”

I elbow her. “It’s okay to talk about it. Better than okay. It’s hard for me, but I’m happy for him.” I never had as much raw talent as he did. Jamie is two years younger than us, but his talent as a pitcher is next level. “And you deserve to be the proud girlfriend.”

“What about you?”

“I don’t think Jamie’s looking for a proud boyfriend.”

She ignores my comment and continues on. “Are you hooking up or looking for something serious? I figure I should know for when someone sees me with you and inevitably asks. I mean, obviously I’ll warn them you’re much more of a pain in the ass than your looks could ever give away, but if they’re still interested…”

“Eh, as soon as I play the crippled card, I’ll have them falling at my feet.”

She pins me with a look, and I laugh.

“Come on. You know I wouldn’t do that. Not exactly proud that I fucked my chances at a dream career.”

“You haven’t answered me.”

Almost got away with it.

“I don’t know. I guess I’ll see what happens.”

I take a swig of my beer and look back out at the lake.

If Amanda knows I’m lying—which there’s a good chance of—she doesn’t call me on it.

It’s not like I’m ashamed to say the truth, I’m just not sure exactly what the truth is. I’m not choosing celibacy until I findmy perfect match, but I’m over the hook up scene. It was never really me to begin with.

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