Page 48 of Love, Academically
“Tell me.”
“Man, she’s incredible. We’ve been out a few times and texting constantly.” He grinned. “I really like her.”
“Really like her?” Rhys repeated. He’d learned that repeatingwhat Dan said as a question made him sound interested. It’s not that he wasn’t interested, it just sometimes didn’t come across very well.
“Yeah,reallylike her.” That dopey grin on Dan’s face wasn’t going anywhere. “She’s funny, clever, passionate about her job.”
Rhys stifled down a sigh.
“I cannot get enough of her. I think this might be a long-term thing.”
“Long-term?” That was new for Dan. He was more a ‘two months and move on’ kind of guy. Rhys grinned. This was good for Dan, so he pushed down the frustration that he’d cancelled kickboxing. Twice.
“Yeah. Long-term.” Dan nodded.
“And you know this after a couple of weeks and a few dates?” Rhys asked, genuinely interested. How did people decide who to spend their time with and whether a relationship was going to be ‘long-term’ or not?
“Yeah, I do,” Dan said, suddenly serious. “When I’m not with her, I want to be.”
Rhys nodded. “Okay.”
“You’ve not felt like that before?” Dan asked.
“No, I can’t say that I have.” Not even with Seren, and he was supposed to marry her. Good job he didn’t then, if he was supposed to feel like that.
“You just haven’t found your person yet.” Dan leaned back in his chair.
“And Jasmeet is ‘your person’?”
A slow smile spread across his face. “I’m pretty sure she might be, yeah.”
“Good for you, Dan,” Rhys said. “But you can’t keep skipping kickboxing.”
“Hang on, you cancelled the other day when you were with Lila.”
Rhys rolled his eyes and launched into a wide-ranging rant about the current state of the NHS.
“So, you spent all afternoon and most of the evening with her? At the hospital?” Dan asked.
“Yes. Her fucking twat of an ex-boyfriend was the doctor that dealt with it.” Jasonwasa fucking twat, there was no getting away from it.
“Tell me you pretended to be her boyfriend again and that you didn’t drop her in the shit.”
Rhys narrowed his eyes at his friend. “What do you think I am?”
“I know you, man,” Dan said, eyebrows raised, and he did. They’d been friends since their undergraduate days. Dan had seen him struggle through his years at Dallimores and helped him get the job at the university. He’d been there with him, through it all.
“Of course I did.” He’d quite enjoyed rubbing Jason’s face in it.
Dan looked at him speculatively. “What happened when you took her home? What aren’t you telling me?”
Sometimes, Dan was way too astute for his own good.
“Nothing. We had fish and chips,” Rhys said, taking a gulp of his lemonade. He was not about to tell Dan that he fell asleep on Lila’s sofa, slept in her bed and practically suctioned himself to her.
“Hmm,” Dan said, draining his beer and pulling the other one closer to him. “You like her.”
“What?”
