Page 76 of Just Friends
“Because if you keep getting turned down, it’s only a matter of time before you become the creepy guy who can’t take a hint.”
I let that one sink in. “Yeah, okay, I see your point.”
“YAY! So you’re really going to make a move on him this weekend?!”
“HAHA. Nice try, but no way. No one’s making any moves this weekend. Things are NORMAL now.”
“Normal? Lol, you literally *just* said he’s being weird.”
“Yeah. He is. Now imagine how much weirder he’d be if I tried to kiss him in our hotel room.”
“Not weird at all? He’d probably be so happy. He wants you.”
“He wants to sleep with me, sure.”
“Don’t act like you don’t wanna bone him, too. I know you do.”
“Yeah, but that’s the problem, because I want more than just sex. He doesn’t.”
“So go into it with zero expectations. Best case scenario, you end up together. Worst case scenario, you got some bomb athlete dick out of it. Where’s the harm in that?”
I rolled my eyes. “That approach does not work, especially with a player like Jax. All you get out of that is feeling used. There’s your harm.”
“Under normal circumstances, sure. But we’re not talking about some random one night stand you met at the bar. You and Jax have built the foundation for a solid relationship over five FRIGGIN years, Pip. You guys already have feelings for each other.”
I was all primed to whip up a smug “yeah,platonicfeelings” type retort, like I’d normally do—but something inside me refused to go along with it. It was easy to act that way when I was living in denial, but I couldn’t anymore. Because Paulina was right; I did have feelings for him. Did he have feelings for me, though? Who knew.
“And he’s obviously head-over-heels in love with you.”
“Then why would he say he wants things to be normal again?” I asked, even though I knew I was guilty of saying the same exact thing when I didn’t mean it.
“Maybe because he doesn’t want to lose you, and he thinks that’s what you want to hear. And also because boys are kinda dumb with emotions.”
I gulped. I could see her point—and Jax wasn’t theonlyone in this truck who was doing a bad job handling their emotions. But still, this was all so far fetched, wasn’t it? There was no way Jaxactuallyliked me, yet here I was, getting my hopes up.
“I’m going to overdose from all thishopiumyou’re feeding me,” I joked.
“Ah-ha, so you still have hope? That’s great! Now just remember what I said: you have to make the first move, since you practically cut his balls off the last time he tried to kiss you.”
“Hey, I did not cut his balls off! I gently told him we needed to stop … that’s all.”
“Uh huh. And please, I hope I don’t have to tell you this, but don’t just kiss him out of nowhere. That’s boring and way too obvious.”
“Don’t worry, I wasn’t planning on it,” I replied. “But just for giggles, I’ll humor you. What do you suggest I do?”
“I don’t know! But it doesn’t have to be big, it just has to be exciting and fun and sexy. Something small that makes him think about you, and gets him DYING to make the next move. It’ll come to you in the moment. If he doesn’t make the next move after that, then okay, maybe he’s not interested after all. But I bet you anything he is.”
I cracked a grin. There was no way I was going to make any moves on Jax, but I gotta admit, my little sister had a way of wording it that made me excited—and made mewishI was brave enough to do something wild like that.
“Since when are you the dating expert?” I wrote back.
“After all the advice you’ve given me, I’m just happy to pay it back for once. And like you always say, people suck at seeing their own relationship problems.”
“That’s true,” I replied.
Her next message made me huff under my breath:“And you really, REALLY suck at seeing how bad you want Jax.”
“Hey! Rude.”
