Page 2 of My Scorned Best Friend

Where did my truthful Clara disappear to?

Ben shrugs it off. “Anyway, I told her to come down when we play Seattle. With the rivalry between our teams, it’ll make for one great party when we kick their ass.”

My throat dries at the thought of Clara being here that weekend. The fact she’d be there because of Ben is another prick in my throat.

“And what did she say?” I do my best to keep my voice even.

He pockets his phone, his permanent smile still in place. “Said she’d think about it. She’s kind of reserved, huh?”

The elevator stops on the bottom floor, and we step out, both saying good morning to our doorman, Kerbie. He opens the door and my car is there, waiting for me.

When Kerbie opens the car door, Ben slides in. “We’re going to the same place, right?”

“Thank you,” I say to Kerbie and follow Ben in.

What would’ve been an enjoyable ride by myself to the arena will now be filled with Ben’s nonstop talk about Clara.

Sure enough, the second the door shuts, he turns and asks me, “What does she like to do for fun?”

I shrug, pretending I’m reading something on my phone, but all the words are melting together.

“Come on, X. I want to make it nice when she comes down. We can’t talk about books, so help a brother out here.”

“If, you mean?”

His forehead wrinkles. “What?”

“If she comes. She didn’t say she was coming for sure.”

“Hello, I’m Ben Noughton. I know I’m probably not her usual type, but—”

“What do you think her usual type is?” I’ve known Clara my entire life, and even I’m not sure I know her type.

“I’ll bet she likes really smart dudes. Ones with a pipe and a plaid coat with the patches on the elbows.”

A laugh escapes me despite how uncomfortable I am with this conversation. “And you think a lot of those guys live in Alaska?”

“Probably not. That’s why she’s still available. I mean, she’s smokin’ and now that she’s a blonde… Damn, how could any guy not want her?”

“Yeah, right.” I agree with Ben, because of course Clara would make any guy happy. Her only negative trait is that she’s stubborn as hell, which is the reason we’ve yet to make up after our blowout.

“So? X?”

We pull up to the arena and I grab my bag, ready to flee this nightmare of a car ride. I already sucked up my pride when I told Ben he was free to get Clara’s phone number the night of my family’s layover. Wasn’t that enough? I don’t think I can handle having to tell him how to win her over.

“You know I’m not used to women like her. I’ll fuck it up for sure without your help.”

I blow out a breath, my hand on the handle of the door. I’ll do it for Clara, because she does not deserve to come down here and spend all her time at sports bars where Ben spends more time with fans than he does with her. If she likes him, which she must if she’s still talking to him, then I’ll give him my two cents on what I’d do if Clara was a girl I wanted to impress.

“Listen. Clara isn’t into the scholarly types. Hello, I’m her fucking best friend. I went to school on a football scholarship, not for my grades.”

“But still, man, you’re smarter than me.”

“First of all, she won’t like it if you keep putting yourself down. She agreed for you to have her phone number. That must mean she’s into you. And she’s cool as hell with sports and bars. She can eat more wings than me most nights, but if I was going to date her, I’d take her to a nice restaurant outside of town, or get a private room. Give her the opportunity to dress up and get to know you. Maybe take a walk around the pier after.”

Clara and I have done all the tourist stuff ten times since I’ve been here.

“Show her why you love San Francisco,” I add.

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