Page 60 of Just Friends
“That’s not what I mean,” she said. “I meant to say, he’s kind of committed to you, isn’t he? Certainly more committed to you than any other girl in his life.”
“Because we live together?” I asked incredulously.
“Well, yeah. Obviously, he likes you enough he wants to live with you—how would you know he doesn’t want to commit if you guys have never eventriedto give dating a shot?”
I puffed, refusing to entertain the idea. “Because we’refriends.Anyway, this discussion is pointless. I don’t want him to commit to me, Paulie. I just want things to be normalbetween us.”
“Well,thatain’t gonna happen,” she said with a snicker. “You two opened up a big ol’ can of worms with that kiss, sis. Like it or not, things are different now.”
“Thanks. I know. I screwed up big time.” I groaned miserably. “And the cherry on top? The money and months of work I put into Soulmate is all wasted.”
“Not if you do what I’m telling you to do,” she sang melodically.
“Uh-huh. And what’s that, exactly? Get a pro athlete to commit to me and only me when he’s got hundreds, no,thousandsof younger and more beautiful women sliding into his DMs twenty-four-seven?”
“Jeez, you make it sound so hopeless,” she murmured.
“I’m not hopeless. I’m realistic.”
“Pip, all I’m saying is, don’t give up now. You made and released your very own kick-ass dating app. Yeah, the promotion didn’t turn out the way you expected, but so what? You can’t justcancelthe whole thing. You go through with the promo anyway—because you matched with him fair and square, after all! And hey, imagine if you and Jax actually ended up dating? That’d besucha good dating app success story. I’m telling you, people would come flocking back to Soulmate.”
“And everyone saysI’mthe recklessly optimistic one,” I said.
“Yeah, you are—which is why I’m surprised you’re giving up already!”
“Well, we’ll see,” I grumbled. I let out a long, tired yawn. “I should let you go. I’m worn out. I should probably get some sleep.”
“Wait,” she said. She reached off-screen. Beaming, she showed me the new black and red Dallas Devils hat I sent her, making sure to show me all the autographs scrawled across the bill. “Check it out! My new hat came the other day. Thanks so much for sending it. And tell Jax thanks for getting the rest of his teammates to sign it for me, too. That’s seriouslysocool!”
I smiled. “I will.”
“Keep your head up, okay? And keep me updated with what happens between you and Jax, too.”
“Sure thing,” I said, though I didn’t expect there to be any such updates. I blew a kiss at the camera. “Bye, Paulie. Love you. Say hi to Mom and Dad for me.”
“Will do! Love you, Pip!”
We hung up and I stared out at the streets below, watching the Dallas traffic hum by.
That little sister of mine might be right about one thing—me and Jax becoming an itemmightsave Soulmate. But not only was that incredibly unlikely … it wasn’t worth risking our friendship over.
The cynical part of me said,yeah, but you already risked your friendship for that kiss.
I whimpered with frustration. I didn’t know what to do; every path seemed like a dead end. I wished I could just go back in time and stop that kiss from happening …
Without any ideas, I trudged back inside and crawled into bed.
I closed my eyes, but all I could think about was the moment Jax’s hot lips touched mine. I shivered, an electric jolt dancing up my tingling spine.
I want him so bad … but I know I can’t have him.
15
Jax
Six Days Later
Rock music blared in the Dallas Devils’ weight room, but the normal background noise of grunting and clanking iron had come to a stop. The boys gathered around my squat rack to gawk as I loaded seven plates onto the bar. I stepped under it and hoisted the weight, the steel bar bowing like a banana across my broad shoulders, and walked out.
