Page 49 of Just Friends
“What?”
“Almost every other comment is how we’re ‘obviously’ in love. Some of them are being reallyraunchy and rude, too.”
“What’d you expect? It’s the internet. That’s how people are.”
“Yeah, but—seriously, guys. Jax and I, we’re just friends. This is how we are together. We joke around and we tease each other. We’re not flirting—”
I interrupted her. “Don’t even try to convince them. Trust me, it won’t help. You’ll only throw more fuel on the fire.”
“Well, whatever,” she said. “On the plus side, we just cracked a million viewers. I guess we should get this show on the road, huh?”
I gave a determined nod. “Hell yeah, let’s do it.”
“Then let’s go ahead and sync your app to the screen here …” She fiddled with the computer settings until my app was displayed on the screen, so everyone else could see it, too. “Okay, here it is! The moment of truth. Are you ready, Jax Cameron, to find out who your Soulmate is?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Then go ahead and press ‘FIND MY MATCH!’ ”
My heart hammered against my chest. Before I pressed that button, I caught Piper’s eye and we shared a nervous smile.
Here goes.
12
Piper
Jax’s finger hovered over the search button. I glanced at his thick and chiseled forearm, but quickly forced myself to look away before anyone in the chat noticed.
Why would I be worried about that? Well, because one of the things I read in our live-stream chat was this:
“guys, watch piper’s eyes, she can’t stop staring at his muscles”
Of all the dumb “they’re so obviously in love” type comments we were getting,thatwas the one that irked me the most.
Because yeah, if the charge against me is observing the fact that Jax has muscles, then I guess I’m guilty. But let’s be real; everyone can see that Jax is big and jacked—was Inotsupposed to notice the way his tattered tank top hung from his massively broad shoulders? Was I supposed to pretend his rippling arms and round, sculpted pecsweren’tout for everyone to see?
Muscles are nice. Muscles are attractive. Come to think of it, I was probablyalwayslooking at his muscles. Is there something wrong with that? It’s notsexualto notice a guy has nice muscles. They’re just pleasant to look at. That’s all.
When I read that chat remark, I wanted to fire back, “Be honest; whoisn’tstaring at his muscles right now?” But like Jax said, that’d only throw more fuel on the fire.
So I ignored them. And I did my best to ignore the little urge deep down that wanted me to steal another peek, too.
“Okay, here goes,” he said.
Jax pressed the bright red button to find his match, and the loading wheel began to spin.
I won’t lie: the second he pressed that button, I suddenly felt nervous. Why? Was I nervous Soulmate’s algorithm would fail and the whole promotion would bomb, live on the internet? No, not at all, because Ibelievedin the app I’d created.
I believed in Soulmate—and that was exactly what worried me. Because if the app did what I’d designedit to do? He very well might find the girl he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.
Which meant I was seconds away from giving away my best friend.
The thought of that made my stomach sink.
Sure, he’d tell himself that he wasn’t ready for that kind of commitment. But isn’t that whateveryonesays right before they meet the love of their life? Everyone I’ve known who’s ever met their true soulmate seems to share the same exact story: love was thelastthing they were expecting when they found each other.
Do you think Jax is expecting to find his one true love right now? You think hewantsto find her? Ha. Nope—no way. And that’s exactly how you know it’s gonna happen.
