Page 35 of Up All Night

It was hard to believe that at one time, his voice had grated on me, because now it had the opposite effect. The richness of his voice was a sound I found myself craving to hear.

I turned around and smiled up at West. “Yes, but only to gloat, of course.”

“Don’t you mean to accept your defeat?”

“There is no way you can beat six phone numbers,” I challenged.

He took his phone out and held it out to me to show his proof. “Six phone numbers, along with their names.”

I started to laugh. “You put it in a spreadsheet?”

“Yes. One, it’s a great way to keep organized.” He put his phone back in his pocket. “And two, I knew I’d have to have physical proof for you to believe I beat you.”

“Except you didn’t beat me,” I pointed out.

“You didn’t beat me either.” He almost looked giddy.

Ugh. He was right. We’d tied.

I rolled my eyes, crossed my arms, and harrumphed like a child. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t beaten him. I’d thought for sure I would have this game in the bag. I mean, we were talking about grumpy-pants West here. How had he gotten so many numbers?

Yes, he was gorgeous, but once he’d started talking, hadn’t they realized he was all looks? Although, looks went a long way. I was a testament to that. Refusing to think about Jeremy and my poor choices in men, I pushed those awful thoughts out as fast as they came in.

If I wasn’t tired of this game, I would suggest a tie breaker, but if I had to listen to one more boring or egotistical guy, I was going to pull my hair out.

“Fine,” I said reluctantly. “Neither of us won.”

“I’m going to go home,” he said abruptly, a smile playing on his lips.

I should have known he’d want to leave as soon as the game was over.

“Oh, yeah, of course.” I nodded.

“See you later, Halle,” he said with a smirk.

What was he smirking about? And why did I like hearing him say my name?

I watched him walk out of the bar, knowing those were questions I’d probably never figure out an answer for.

Now that West was gone and our game was finished, I had no desire to stay here any longer either. I looked for Kate, spotting her in conversation with a clean-cut guy at the bar. Next I searched for my mother, who was talking to a different guy than the one she had flirted with when we first got here. They both looked like they were enjoying themselves. I could Uber home, but I didn’t want to waste money on that. I could have asked West for a ride, but I hadn’t realized I wanted to go home until after he left.

And no, that didn’t mean anything. I’d simply enjoyed our game and liked how it had made the night a lot more interesting. It wasn’t like him leaving was the only reason the excitement of the night had fizzled out. It was pure coincidence. I was just tired, and our little competition had taken my mind off things.

I slowly made my way toward Kate to see if I could catch her attention without interrupting her conversation. If I could get a good read on how much she was enjoying talking to this guy, then I would know if I needed to intervene or stick it out.

Her eyes found mine, and the unmistakable silent ‘rescue me’ was easy to identify.

Coming up beside her, I clutched her arm and held my stomach with the other. “I don’t feel so good.”

“Oh, no,” Kate said, pretending to sound concerned. “We’d better get you home.” She turned to the guy. “I’m sorry, I gotta go. My roommate isn’t feeling well, and I need to get her home.”

I added in a heave for good measure.

The guy hurried and took a few steps back, looking at me like my sickness was contagious. “Uh, yeah, ok. Good luck with that.”

He practically ran away, which had Kate and I laughing.

Next, I got my mom to untangle her claws from the guy she was shamelessly flirting with, and then we were all finally on our way back to the apartment, with my mom chatting the whole way home about all the guys she had met.

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