Page 50 of Betting on You

And why did I find it a little annoying?

“Britt,” she yelled, grabbing her boyfriend’s arm as she headed for the kitchen. “Where you at?”

As they walked away, I let go of Charlie’s arm and did anything but look at him. I wasn’t sure how to deal with whatever strange things had been afoot between us. I knew that I’d just gotten a little caught up in our game of pretend, but would he know that’s all it was?

“Glasses.”

“Hmm?” I said, trying to look casual as I raised my eyebrows as if interested in what he was going to say. “What?”

When I dared to meet his eyes, he was giving me a funny look. It was… sincere, maybe? He let go of my thigh, cleared his throat, and said, “You went above and beyond. Thanks.”

“No problem.”

“Come on, Clio,” Charlie said, following Clio out the front door. I shut it behind us as he tried to get her to listen to him. “Be a good girl.”

“I’m fine,” she said—well,yelled, smiling as she stepped off the porch and into the front yard.

“Nope.” Charlie jumped off the porch and landed in front of her. He bent his knees, so his face was at her level (he was like a foot taller than her), and he said, “I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight if I let one of my favorite humans get behind the wheel when she’s clearly buzzed. Please let me drive you, because I need my fucking beauty sleep.”

The way she beamed at him made me smile, because what else was there to do?

The jerk from the airport was ridiculously charming.

Actually—that wasn’t it.

It wasn’tcharmthat was melting Clio and me, it was kindness. The jerk from the airport clearly cared about his friend and was committed to taking care of her.

Dear God, it was almosttoonice, like sunshine on a spring day. So completely wonderful that you want to stare and soak it up, but that only results in burned corneas and impaired vision.

We got Clio loaded into the back seat, and when we werebuckling our seat belts and he started the car, Charlie said, “By the way. My friend Eli asked me if he can ask you out.”

What?I knew to be cool and act like I’d been there before, but what I really wanted to do was sayAre you sure?andDid he get me confused with someone else?

Not that I didn’t think I was worthy of interest, but I hadn’t really engaged with Eli, aside from a few random sentences.

“Why would he askyou?” I said, mainly to sound cool as I worked through my shock that he’d noticed me at all. “What are you—my dad?”

Charlie put the car in drive and pulled away from the curb. “I’m his friend, and he just wanted to make sure I wouldn’t care. Settle your ass down.”

I peeked back at Clio, who looked like she was asleep sitting up, and tried to determine how I felt about this turn of events. Charlie’s friend was cute and seemed nice enough, but he also wasn’t Zack.

“What’s Eli like?” I asked Charlie, deciding not to shut it down entirely before I had all the facts.

“Oh my God, I love Eli,” Clio said with her eyes closed. “He’s hot and super nice.”

That made me grin at Charlie.

“I think you’d like him,” Charlie said, looking into the mirror before switching lanes.

“You do?” I looked over, for some reason surprised, and his face was unreadable in the dashboard lights. “Really?”

“Sure,” he said, his wrist casually draped over the steering wheel. “I mean,Ilike him, he’s a handsome guy, and you’re not into anyone else, right?”

“Right,” I said, looking out the windshield into the darkness and picturing Zack.

But I must’ve made a face, because his eyes got big and he said, “Holy shit—who? Who are you into?”

“No one,” I lied, but Charlie wasn’t buying it.

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