Page 69 of The Best Book Boyfriend
I take the bag of food and she follows me through to the living room, stepping out of her shoes along the way. The salty, vinegary steam hits me in the face as I unwrap the paper and get stuck right in.
“He invited me to dinner at what I thought was going to be a nice hotel restaurant. I actually worried he’d end up saying he had a room upstairs or some cheesy line like that. Anyway, I met him in the bar, he seemed like a nice enough guy, decent looking, but it turned out he was using me as his plus one for some work awards ceremony.”
“No,” she gasps, bringing her hands to her face.
I shove three chips in my mouth at once and keep going. “Yep. And he introduced me as hisgirlfriend. So I had to sit at a table with him and eight strangers for two hours while they handed out trophies.”
Megan is agog. “No. No. I’m sorry that I’m laughing, but no. You’re making this up?”
“I’m not! We had zero chemistry, and there was no food, not even free booze.”
“What did you do?”
“He said he was getting an award, so I stayed until then and made my excuses when the dancing started.”
“You need to write a book about your dating life.”
“Absolutely never. On the plus side, I now know the best plumbers in the county.”
We are laughing so much we’re in tears, struggling to breathe as we roll about on the floor.
“What’s going on with you?” I ask when we finally get ourselves together. “You two are so obsessed with my love life that I haven’t pestered you about yours for a while. Any news from Max?”
“There isn’t much to report. He says he’ll be back after Christmas, so hopefully we can pick things up again then.” I’m not hopeful. Megan’s ex is ten years older than her, and made no secret that he has kids back home in Australia. I think he’s stringing her along, and I’d love to see her with someone who can give her as much as she gives them.
“Oh, there’s a cute new teacher in the history department.”
“A sexy professor?” I wiggle my eyebrows, “say more.”
“I haven’t spoken to him, just admired him across the staff room. His name is Samuel.”
“Samuel, not Sam. That’s hot.”
“I don’t know,” she says, shaking her head. “I’m hardly going to get involved with a colleague.”
“Still nice to have a little crush though, eh?”
“Speaking of little crushes, how are things with Luke?”Lovely, lovely Luke. The best man I know. But notmyman.
“They’re fine. I apologised for how I behaved at The Milling Barn, and we’ve spoken a couple of times since then. Back to just friends, which is how I want to keep it.”
“Do you really?”No.
“Of course. There is no crush.”
“Are you lying to me?” She fixes me with a beady stare.
“I’m not,” I laugh it off and look away. “I can be friends with him.”
“OK babe, I believe you. You’re tougher than me. I can’t even stand to think about people I’ve been with let alone be friends with them.”
“Well, I can. I’ll prove it to you and see if he wants to come with us tomorrow.”
Kara:Hey, what you up to?
Luke:Falling asleep on the sofa. You?
Kara:Watching Sleepless In Seattle with Megan. We’re planning a little road trip tomorrow if you’d like to join us?
