Page 33 of We Finished Here

“What’s weird is that her bestie was wearing your jersey the entire night. You missed out, bro, I’m telling you.” I think Maddison would definitely be his type of girl.

The thought kind of amuses me, not for any other reason, just that it would be cool to see him meet a nice girl. Don’t get me wrong, he’s met a lot of someones, haven’t we all… but nothing has stuck for him since college.

“Fuck,” he mutters. “Always the way.”

“They’re in town for a week.”

“You suggesting something?”

“Maybe.” I laugh, stroking my chin. It’s like these spontaneous decisions are being made for me by some alternate version of me hiding under the surface.

Hopefully it’s a better version than what I feel like right now.

Twisted and horny over my ex-girlfriend.

It’s not normal to think like that. Especially after what she did to me.

Things have moved on long ago, and I’m guarded now.

“You’re hopeless, do you know that?”

I laugh. “Don’t I know it.”

“You still got a thing for her, Taylor?”

I sigh heavily. I guess that tells him all he needs to know. “Nah, of course not. She’s still cute, I’ll give her that. But it was over long ago. No point rehashing it.”

“But you want to meet up with her while she’s here?”

“We’ll see.” I shrug.

“Hey, maybe we could meet up with her friend and do a double date?” He chortles.

“It wouldn’t be a date,” I tell him. “Just some friends catching up.”

He contemplates this for a moment. “You sure you’re not playing with fire?”

“Positive,” I tell him. I’m sure if I say it enough times, I’ll start to believe it myself.

“So, you’d be up for it, if they wanted to?” I ask him. Every guy needs a wingman after all.

“Wait, what’s this Maddison like first?”

“You think I’d set you up with some crazy lunatic?”

He snorts. “I thought it wasn’t a setup.”

“We gotta eat,” I tell him. “Plus, I haven’t seen her in years. May as well catch up on old times and enjoy a good meal while we’re at it.”

“Two birds, one stone kinda thing,” he muses.

I laugh too. “Something like that.”

“Cos that’s not rehashing things, yeah?”

I glance at him. I can’t fool my best friend no matter what bullshit I try to spin. “You in or not?”

“Yeah, I’m in.” He sighs. “Why not. It’s been a crazy week. Nice fucking plays last night, by the way. You were on fire.”

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