Page 3 of Love Me Like It's Real
“And you’re still hoping you’ll change—we,we’ll change their mind?—”
“It’s got to happen one of these days, right? I mean, come on. These people are one step short of telling us Valentine is a real little cherub going around shooting his arrows at people or some shit.”
“You do know Valentine is not a cherub, right? He’s a saint.” Jason grimaces.
“No, he ain’t.”
Jason rolls his eyes with a laugh. “You’re incorrigible.”
“And proud of it,” I say and raise my beer.
Jason stares at me.
“Don’t leave me hanging, man.”
“Fine!” He chuckles and clinks glasses with me before throwing another dart. “I can’t wait until you meet your match.”
I almost choke on my beer. Me? Meet my match?
“That’s never going to happen,” I say.
He shrugs. “You never know.”
I scoff. “I do. I do know. I’ve ‘coached’ hundreds of couples by now and you know what they all have in common?”
Jason shakes his head.
“They always break up.”
“Maybe it’s you,” he says with a chuckle, but this is no laughing matter.
“Trust me, my friend. It’s not me. Hell, even this Trey guy today. He might have got ‘his’ man but I saw the way he was thirsting after me. It won’t be long before ‘you’re my Prince Charming’ becomes ‘let’s have an open relationship’ and you know when that happens they’ve almost definitely already ‘opened’ the relationship. All relationships are doomed. That’s a fact.”
“Hey! What about my parents?”
I pause and raise an eyebrow. “Your parents are divorced.”
Jason bites his lip. “Yeah, yeah. I know. But they’ve found their special someone since and they’re happy.”
I groan. “Sure. Until they stop being happy and move on to the next person that comes their way.”
“You’re such a cynic,” he says.
“Nah. Just a realist.”
Jason rolls his eyes and hands me a dart. “Oh boy,” Jason hoots. “It’s going to be so epic.”
I narrow my eyes and glare at him before I throw my dart. “What is?” I ask.
Jason shrugs again. “When you fall in love.”
“Pfft!” I wince. “Believe you me, Jason, dude. That is neverevergoing to happen in the history of ever!”
I exhale and turn to the dartboard, holding back from laughing at the mere notion.
I’m no fool. I amneverallowing myself to fall in love again. I’m going to live and die a bachelor and I will prove to this whole damn town that’s obsessed with love that love is a scam and it needs to be treated as such even if it kills me.
TWO
