Page 130 of Just Friends
“Oh, ah,” Nate stammered, clamping his hand on the back of her neck. “Piper, I want you to meet my girlfriend, Abigail.”
I peeled off my work glove, wiped my hand on my shorts, and shook her hand. “Hi, Abigail. Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you, too,” she said, flashing a timid smile. She was a pretty girl, no doubt, but she looked a little on the younger side to be dating Nate. Making small talk, she said, “Nate told me you two were good friends growing up?”
“Oh, yeah, everyone who grew up on the commune was real tight,” I deflected, figuring Nate hadn’t bothered to tell her our history. “So how’d you two meet?”
Abigail said, “We met on a dating app, believe it or not.”
“Oh yeah? Which one?” I asked with genuine curiosity.
“This new app called Soulmate. Ever heard of it?” she asked.
Paulina snickered, and Nate suddenly looked a little ill.
“No kidding?” I laughed. “Yeah, I’ve heard of Soulmate.I got set up with my fiancé on Soulmate.”
That information made Abigail’s shoulders loosen—I was no longer a threat.
“That’s great! Congratulations!” she said, and her eyes instinctively drifted to my left hand, but there wasn’t anything she could see.
“You wanna see it?” I asked. When she nodded, I took off my other glove and showed her my ring.
“Oh myGod,” she gasped, “that’s abig-ass rock!”
“Yeah, I’m a lucky girl. He really spoils me.”
“Y’see that ring, Nate?” she asked, casting a look at him that could only mean,take note, because the standard has been set.
“Yep,” he coughed, but he didn’t dare look.
“Seems like everyone’s meeting on Soulmate these days,” Abigail mused.
I grinned. “I know, right?”
“But I have to admit,” she continued, “I was a little hesitant to meet Nate at first, because Soulmate gave him the ol’ fuckboy kiss of death.”
I feigned surprise. “No way. Did it really?”
Nate started to turn red.
“Sure did. He’s been good sofar”—Abigail slyly spanked his bottom—“but I’ve got my eye on him.”
I chuckled. “Good. Don’t take it off him, either. You really gotta watch out for those fuckboys.”
Though I haven’t had any problems with mine,I thought.
“Oh, I know it.” She nodded. “To be fair to Nate, most my other matches were flagged for it, too. But they’re boys my age, so I guess that’s not too surprising.Everyoneat school sleeps around.”
I tilted my head. “Oh, you’re in school?”
She nodded. “Yeah, I just finished my first year up at UM.”
I mentally subtracted her age from Nate’s and thought,ew.
“How exciting,” I said.
“Anyway,” Nate butted in, likely figuring that Abigail and I had said enough to each other. “I just dropped by ’cause I was wantin’ to know what your plans were with our land?”
