“Another?” Caroline asks me, pausing by the table, eyeing my empty tumbler.
I nod and turn back to the guys. “I don’t really. I just don’t want to mess up the friendship we have by asking her outright. Ya know?”
“Nope. I’m not a pussy. I just come right out and say what I want to say,” Mason says, grinning.
“Shut up, Mason. We all know how long it took you to finally get serious with Jules,” Craig says, and I grin.
Craig: 1. Mason: 0.
“Look, this is what you have to do.” Craig leans over to grab some of the food in front of me. Food I should be eating with how fast I’m drinking. “You’ve got to create a diversion. Shall we say, flush the quail out.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Well, if she’s not going to come to you, then you have to make her react. My idea—excuse me, my really fucking great idea—is that you should go on a date.”
“No shit. That’s the whole problem in the first place,” I say, scowling at how unhelpful they’re being.
“No, no, no. Not with her. A different girl.”
“How would that help anything?”
“You pay close attention to how she reacts, and then you’ll have your answer.”
“Let me get this straight. You think I should ask someone else out on a date to see how she reacts?” At first, I’m a little against the idea, but now that I’m thinking about it—or maybe it’s the liquor I just sucked down—the idea has merit.
“That’s a supremely horrible idea,” Ezra says, shaking his head first at Craig and then at me. “Don’t do that.”
I nod at his statement, knowing that he’s right.
“No, I like it. Let the kid do it,” Mason says.
“I’m literally, like, one year younger than you,” I say, glaring at him.
“You are? Hmm.” He pops a chip in his mouth.
“No, I’m not going to fake date someone to make her jealous. That’s immature and petty.” I slowly shake my head as Caroline sets another drink down in front of me.
“I have the perfect candidate,” Craig says, looking at Caroline with a gleam in his eye.
“No, nope.” I emphatically shake my head, but Craig ignores me. Maybe now is when I end up under the table—and not just because of the liquor. I drain my second drink, knowing that I should slow down.
“What’s up? Can I get you anything else?” she asks Craig once she sees him staring at her.
“Caroline,” Craig says, looking at her with a grin.
“Don’t do it,” I groan, and he pats me on the shoulder.
“Craig,” she says, drawling his name out.
“My friend here needs your help.”
“I’m not dating any more of your friends, Craig. Not after last time.”
“Jarrod wasn’t really my friend. How was I supposed to know he had a foot fetish?” Craig throws his hands up, and I hear Ezra snicker. This sounds like a good story. “Anyway, Benny here needs a date. He’s too scared—”
“I’m not scared. And I can get my own dates.”
Caroline rolls her eyes and looks at me. “Benny, huh?”
“Just Ben is fine.”
“Okay, just Ben, I’m down.”
I look at Craig, and he shrugs.
Thanks for all your help, man.
“For the record, this isn’t a good idea. At all,” Ezra chimes in.
“Yeah, Ez is right,” I say, avoiding eye contact with her. “Craig is just messing around. Sorry.” I flash a pathetic smile at Caroline, who shrugs and walks away, muttering something about how she deserves a big tip.
“Come on now. Leave the guy alone,” Mason says.
He doesn’t know who I’ve been talking about, and in all honesty, he might not have a problem with me wanting to date Pepper, but I don’t want to find out the hard way if he does.
Should I keep it from him? Probably not. Am I going to? Yep.
“She won’t know you’re trying to make her jealous,” Craig says, nodding like it’s the best idea he’s had. “Let’s order shots for the best plan I’ve ever come up with.”
Everyone ignores him.
“I think you should just be an adult and talk to her about it instead of playing games,” Ezra says, looking back at the television.
I drain my second drink while nodding, and then I reach for something to eat. “Yeah, I don’t know if I’m quite ready to cross that bridge. I don’t want to ruin what we have right now. Craig might have a point though. I’m not going to fake date someone, but maybe I should go on a real date and see what happens.”
I raise my drink to Caroline, and she nods, letting me know she’s going to bring me another. This is finally falling into place. It’s perfect. I smile to myself as I eat another chip.
“See, you just need to get out there and see what happens,” Craig says before turning back to the TV, conversation over.
Caroline brings my drink over, and once she walks away, I realize there’s a piece of paper underneath it. I pick it up, squinting, and read what she wrote while my head swims.
Just in case.
555-3563
“What’s that?” Mason asks, eyeing my paper.
I quickly ball it up, shoving it in my pocket.
“Nothing,” I say, suddenly nervous. I need to think when my head is clearer. And it’s definitely not clear right now.
I watch Mason’s hand grab my keys from the top of the table as I set my glass down. It takes me a moment to move my eyes up to look at him.
“I’ll drive you home in your truck,” he says, sticking my keys in his pocket. “Ezra can follow me to bring me back to my truck.”
“I can just call a cab,” I manage to say.
He laughs. “I got you, man.”
“I love you, man,” I say,
