Page 13 of Love, Academically
“She’s just too damn nice to tell him to fuck off,” Jasmeet said, not so under her breath. “And she hates that goddamned Oasis song that Jason sings at her every time he sees her. Pathetic.”
“Never mind, it’s over and done with. He just makes me feel stupid when I see him. So really, Rhys,” she turned to him, and his face was closer to her than expected, “thank you so much. I really appreciate you helping me out.”
Rhys’s lips turned up into a small smile and he nodded. “You owe me though, Miss Cartwright.”
She laughed, and Rhys’s smile spread.
“Anything. But not the course.”
“Another round?” Dan asked the table, while only looking at Jasmeet. She blushed prettily and nodded.
“I’ll have a lemonade please,” Lila said, and Rhys nodded.
“Make that two.”
“Okay, and done.” Dan ordered on the app and put his phone back onto the table.
“Enough about my dismal love life, is there a girlfriend or boyfriend who is going to be upset with you, Rhys?” Lila mentally slapped her forehead. Why hadn’t she thought about this before? He was an attractive early-to-mid-thirties man – of course he would have a significant other. And here she was pressuring him into being her fake boyfriend.
“No.”
“Okay…” She stretched out the word, pushing for more information. She’d just laid herself bare in front of a colleague and his random guy friend, so the least he could do was return the favour.
No, he’d already gone above and beyond, and still was pretending to be her boyfriend.
“What Rhys means to say is that, no, he’s not seeing anyoneat the moment, and his last serious relationship was a few years ago,” Dan said, giving Rhys a meaningful stare. “You’ll have to excuse Rhys, sometimes he lacks social etiquette.”
Rhys’s neck flushed.
“That’s all right, people are hard to read sometimes,” she said.
Rhys cut his eyes to her as if checking that she wasn’t making fun of him. Lila gave him a smile.
“It’s been a while since I’ve had a girlfriend. There’s no one to be annoyed at me.”
It was Lila’s turn to flush a little, and she swung her eyes away from Rhys before he could see.
“What about you, Dan?” she asked, draining the last of her wine. Lemonade was definitely a good choice, otherwise she would be good for nothing tomorrow. Jasmeet took a sip of her fruity cocktail and tried not to look overly interested (but the gratitude came down the best friend telepathy line). Excellent wing-womaning.
“I’m free and single,” he said, turning to Jasmeet.
“Well, that’s good to know,” Jasmeet crooned, cocking an eyebrow at him. Dan smirked.
Well, that was that then.
What had been the possibility of them leaving together was now a strong eighty-five percent. Lila and Rhys exchanged exasperated glances as Dan and Jasmeet continued their conversation, voices too low for anyone else to join in.
“So, Rhys, tell me, what would be your worst date ever?” Lila asked. “If you say pretending to be a work colleague’s boyfriend, I’ll be mortally wounded.”
Rhys laughed. A proper, throw-your-head-back, truthful laugh and Lila laughed with him.
“Karaoke.” He shuddered. “I will never, ever, do karaoke. I cannot imagine anything worse than putting yourself up there for everyone to see you sing terribly. Where’s the fun in that?”Rhys said, taking both his and Lila’s lemonade off the tray held by the young waitress.
“That’s the whole point! You’re not supposed to be good at karaoke, you’re just supposed to enjoy it.” Lila said. “Karaoke is fun, especially when you’re with friends.”
“No, you’re wrong.” Rhys sipped his lemonade, secure in his assessment. “What’s yours?”
“I’m pretty much up for anything,” she said, tilting her head in thought. “I just like to know that someone has thought about spending time with me, but…” She hesitated, thinking.
