Page 20 of Fun and Games
But sitting around a table drinking with Mason and his friends was almost nostalgic. Seeing how in love Connor and Quinn were didn't cause me any pain or hurt. It was a feeling of belonging; almost forgotten, but slowly starting to come back to me.
"Who's the one who cheated off whose exams?" Connor asked Mason. "I wouldn't say anything about my intelligence if I were you."
"Every time I copied off you, I failed," Mason countered.
"That's your fault for not knowing I had the wrong answers," Connor said with a punch to his friend's arm.
As the two guys ribbed on each other, Quinn leaned close to me and spoke quietly.
"So you and Mason…" She trailed off expectantly. When I didn't answer, she continued. "Are you two a thing?"
"We're just friends," I told Quinn, which was the closest to the truth, I supposed. I certainly wasn't going to tell her Mason was my one-night stand. That was my own private business.
Quinn nodded and let it go, not pushing the issue, even though I suspected she knew that wasn't the whole story.
"Mason's a good guy," she told me. "He always gives Connor a hard time about settling down, but I think there's some part of him that's jealous."
"Jealous?" I raised an eyebrow and lowered my voice. "Are you saying Mason has a thing for you? Or does he have a thing for Connor?" It wouldn't be unusual for a guy who had a crush on his male best friend to never tell him.
"Nothing like that," Quinn replied with a shake of her head. "I think he sees the two of us, sees how happy we are, and he wants something like that for himself. Of course," she added, "he would never say that out loud."
My heart jumped a quick, panicked beat.
Was Mason looking for something serious? From the way he'd taken me home that first night, it seemed as if he was perfectly okay with being casual.
A kernel of worry began to bloom in my gut. I had been fine with having that one night with Mason. It had been fun, and I didn't regret it. And I didn't mind running into him that next week. He seemed like a cool guy. It wouldn't be a terrible thing if we ended up as friends.
But if Mason was looking for something more than that…
"…dog-walking," I heard Mason say as I caught the trail end of his conversation. "Right?" he turned to me. "When you're not working at that tech company you walk dogs."
"It's a pretty fun gig," I said. "I've only been doing it for a few weeks, though."
"How did you get into that?" Quinn asked. "Do you have a lot of friends with dogs who needed help?"
I didn't have a lot of friends, period.
"I signed up with this temp agency," I told them. "It's not just dog-walking. I've picked up a bunch of different jobs."
"Like what?" Connor asked. "I wouldn't mind getting paid to play with dogs a couple times a week."
"It's not always fun," I told them. "My next gig is going into people's homes and putting together IKEA furniture for them."
"People pay to have someone else do that?" Mason asked. "Why not just do it themselves?"
"It can be frustrating sometimes," Quinn said. "I can see someone not wanting to bother with it."
"All you have to do is follow the instructions," Mason said. "How hard can it be?"
"I see you've never put together IKEA furniture before," I said.
"I haven't, but I can't believe it's all that complicated," Mason replied.
"You want to make a bet on that?" An idea starting forming in my mind.
"What, you want to compete over who can put together IKEA furniture?" he asked. "I knew you were competitive, but damn."
"You should come on the job with me," I told him. "See for yourself."
