Page 63 of Win Some Love Some
“Super asshole,” I agreed.
“If you ever want to talk?”
“I don’t.” I smiled to blunt the rudeness.
“Well, I don’t want you to feel a smidge bad about coming to the wedding alone. The best way to get over that stupid French jerk is to just move on.”
“Really?” I thought maybe it was doing everything I could to get him arrested. Or burning all his shit? But what did I know?
Terry nodded vigorously. “So, my cousin Milton, you remember him, from that summer he came to stay with us during our junior year, is going to be at the wedding. The mouthguard is gone and his teeth are really straight now. He’s going to be solo. And there’s Peter. The author? He’s recently broken up from his longtime girlfriend too. Oh, and-”
“I thought I was going with you,” Nick said, his boots hitting the cement floor with conversation ending thuds. He stood beside me and the half of my body closest to him woke up like I was full of static electricity.
Go with me?
“Hi Nick,” Carol, Terry’s sister said, looking at Nick in a way that made my eyebrow go up. “This is my aunt Susan who is in town for the wedding.”
“Hi, Aunt Susan,” Nick said, turning on the charm like he did it all the time. Aunt Susan’s face instantly lit up.
“Oh. Nick. You’re coming to the wedding. With Nora?” Terry asked.
It’s news to me too, Terry.
“Yeah, you said it was plus one. Right?”
“Yes, absolutely,” Terry said, barely able to hide her disappointment for Cousin Milton. Carol, however, looked thrilled. Terry turned back to me. “So, great. You won’t be alone. You’ll have a friend. Well, we really need to be going. Dress fitting after lunch. Can’t wait to see you at the wedding, Nora. It will be just like we’re all back in high school. You too, Nick.”
The threesome left the garage, but not before Carol gave another smile and brief wave to Nick.
Ha! She was two years younger than me. Didn’t she know he was too old for her? That he would never consider someone her age to date?
Or would he? Maybe it had just beenmeand not necessarily my age. That would be horrifically life altering. Again.
“What the hell was that?” I barked at him.
He shrugged. “I didn’t like the way she kept digging at you about the whole…thing.”
“She wasn’t trying to be mean.”
“I thought you’d still be with Rene,” he said. “That wasn’t mean?”
“The way you make it sound it is, but no. She was more polite than most.”
“Well, most people are assholes.”
“It doesn’t mean you invite yourself along as my date. Now you actually have to come with me to the wedding. You know that, right?”
“If you don’t want me there we can come up with an excuse or something.”
“Oh no, you heard her. If I’m not there with a date, she’s going to set me up with Mouthguard Milton.”
“Not a date though.”
“What’s your point, Nick?”
Nick rubbed the back of his neck and looked around the space, like everything was much more fascinating than me. “It’s not a date. Like a real date. It’s just me. A friend. Helping another friend out. You know, so you don’t get set up with Mouthguard Milton. More like a rescue, than a date really. Would we call it a fake date? That doesn’t sound exactly right, but it’s probably closer than saying it’s an actual date. Is it hot in here? What time is it? Lunch?”
“Do you hear yourself right now?”
