Page 40 of The One I Need
She grabs her margarita and takes a sip. I’m guessing for courage, because it’s a very large sip. “Because I don’t believe that love exists for me.”
Wow. Now I’m the one taken aback. “Why?”
Izzy shakes her head. “Nope. Just one question.”
Shit. It might not be much, but at least it’s something. “Fair enough.”
“All right,” she says, “Were you kidding at the wedding when you asked me to marry you?”
Out of any of the questions she could have asked, she had to go for that one. “No. I wasn’t kidding.”
Her eyes double in size before she nearly explodes in laughter. “You mean, if I would have said yes, we would be engaged right now?”
I shake my head and grab another chip. “Sorry. Can’t answer that. We decided on just one question.”
* * *
Izzy: I’m calling bullshit.
Oliver: Are you calling me a liar?
Izzy: I don’t want to, but you’re the one claiming that you own ninety pairs of socks. No man owns ninety pairs of socks.
Oliver: Cross my heart.
Izzy: How do I know you’re crossing your heart?
Oliver: *Video crossing my heart*
Izzy: It was a figure of speech. I didn’t need video evidence, dork.
Oliver: Better safe than sorry.
Izzy: I still think it’s a load of crap.
Oliver: *Picture of two full sock drawers.*
Izzy: Well I’ll be damned…
I laughas Izzy rapid fires texts to me about my sock proof. Normally, a woman doesn’t see the socks until at least date three—one ex-girlfriend, who I believe was proposal twenty-three, said it was weird so I never took a chance again—but I figured since Izzy and I aren’t dating, I could break my rule for her.
I’m officially in the friend zone, and to be honest, it’s not a bad place to be.
In all my years of dating, courting, and botched proposals, I’ve never been just friends with a woman. I like it. It’s nice. No pressure. No worrying if I said or did the right or wrong thing. No worrying every day I’m accidentally going to propose.
It’s freeing. I can just be myself. There’s no hiding certain things because it might turn a woman off. There’s also no getting into a certain hobby just because your partner is into it. Failed proposal nineteen was big into horseback riding. I bought boots and a twelve-gallon hat.
But with Izzy, it’s just me. And I love it.
Oliver: You’re trying to tell me you don’t have an obscene amount of something?
Izzy: I mean, I have a lot of shoes?
Oliver: Come on, something better than that.
Izzy: I don’t. I’m a minimalist.
Oliver: I don’t believe that for a second.
