Page 23 of Pick Me

“Aww,” Britt cooed.

I waved the entire topic off.

“It’s not the same. She seemed nice at the start, but that all changed when—”

“When what?” Britt asked with an eager smile.

“Uh.” I thought about it but came up blank.

“Yeah, when?” Matty added.

Something that I’d been pushing to the back of my mind came back to me. “I, uh, guess when Tanner told me to back off.”

“He did what?! Does Thea know?” Britt stared at me, waiting for an answer.

“Why would she care?” Matty asked.

I didn’t wait for Britt’s response. “It’s not as bad as it sounds. Tanner apparently thought I was interested in Thea. Admittedly, when I first met her, I thought she was pretty cool. The minute she started insulting me, though, everything changed.”

“Wait, did she break your heart?”

“No.” I thought back to the first insult she ever hurled my way right after I broke things off with Grace after figuring out I wasn’t interested in her. It was straight after that Thea started calling me Baseball Cap and snarling all the time. It was about a week later that Tanner told me to back off his sister, as if anything would ever happen. “I wasn’t interested in her romantically.”

“Pfft.” Britt blew out a breath.

“It’s true. I’ve never been interested in having a girlfriend, and I definitely don’t want to piss off our QB1, so when he came to me, concerned I was going to break his sister’s heart, that was enough of a red flag for me to back away from that friendship.”

“Sure, that’s why you did it,” Matty added with an eye roll.

“I did. Look, I know my easygoing nature and nice-guy attitude can appear flirty, so I backed off, not wanting to give the wrong impression.”

“Aww, that’s so cute.”

“Cute? What’s cute about it?”

Britt couldn’t contain her smile. “You gave up the girl you’re really in love with to keep your best friend happy.”

“That’s not what happened.” My lip curled. Britt was all in for these love stories, but she seemed a little eager for this to become something it wasn’t.

Britt bit her bottom lip and looked at Matty before turning back to me. “I know I shouldn’t say this, but I think Tanner was right to be concerned. I think Thea’s always had a thing for you.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Thea had a thing for me? I was more likely to become a rocket scientist, and considering my grades, that would never happen.

“Do you think?” Matty asked Britt, who nodded vigorously.

“Oh yeah.”

“Have you been drinking, B?”

She lifted her water bottle, giving it a little shake and making the water swish around the plastic, mesmerizing me for a second. “Nope, I’ve been on the water all night.”

“Well, then you must be high on something. Thea can’t stand me. When she looks at me, my balls shrivel into raisins out of pure fear she’s going to pulverize them.

“Your shriveled raisin balls were another image I didn’t need in my head,” Matty said.

“You can thank your wife for that one.”

“I don’t know. I think she still likes you. The way she spears the insults at you is impressive.”

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