I stared at him. I did not like this at all. I wasn’t a fan of set up dates, and I was even less of a fan of Josh being the guy to set me up on them. Surely him being my brother’s best friend was a conflict of interest. There was no way for me to know that he wouldn’t sabotage it.
“Stop looking at me like you’re trying to figure out if I’ll double-cross you.” His lips tugged to one side. “I’m genuinely trying to help you.”
“I don’t know.” I said it slowly and carefully. “Seems weird.”
“Fine, here’s what we’ll do. I’ll set you up on two dates with guys of your specification, teach you how not to be your usual introverted self on them. If it all goes to shit, I’ll never speak to you about dating again.”
I fought back a smile. This was a terrible, terrible idea, but it didn’t look like he was going to let me tell him no. “I don’t like this,” I said.
“Come on. Two dates, and like I said, I’ll even coach you in how to make them successful.”
“This would be far more reassuring if you weren’t single. You know that, right?”
“Hey, I’m single only because I haven’t found anyone to settle down with yet. I have a bunch of great dates, they just don’t turn into something more.”
“Why not?”
He leaned forward on the table, clasping his beer between his hands. His toned arms strained against his black t-shirt, and he shrugged, pouting his full bottom lip out a little. “I guess I’m picky.”
“You’re picky.”
“I’m picky,” he repeated. “While all the girls I’ve been out with lately are nice, I just don’t see myself getting married to them, so it never goes past the third date. Usually not the second.”
“Why date them three times if you know you don’t see yourself getting married to them?”
He tapped the side of his nose. “Because first dates are always on the awkward side. You don’t really know each other and you’re feeling the other person out to see if you have anything in common. The second date you’re a little more comfortable because you already know about that stuff, so you chill. But by the end of the third date, you know them well enough to know if the relationship is going to go anywhere.”
I purse my lips. “I guess that makes sense. What do you do on your dates?”
“The first date is always more formal, like dinner somewhere nice. Not here, because you’re gonna see someone you know, and it’s hell when that happens. Second date is maybe the movies or something like mini golf. If she’s a bit sporty, maybe a hike with a picnic, but I usually save that for the third date.”
“Why?”
“Because I know if she cares about getting her shoes dirty by the end of the second.”
I sighed heavily. “Dating is hard.”
Josh nodded and rubbed his hand over the stubble that lined his jaw. “So let me help you. I’ll update your profile, find you guys to date, and talk you through the dates.”
I didn’t answer.
He reached over and took my phone. “Passcode?”
“I’m not telling you my passcode.”
“It’s your birthday, isn’t it?”
“Damn it.”
Grinning, he tapped in today’s date and got into my phone. “Stupid Cupid, e-Matched, and Tap That. Which one first?”
I shrugged. I didn’t really care, and I wasn’t really sure that it mattered.
“Stupid Cupid it is, since we know you’re getting hits there.” He navigated to my profile with the ease of someone who was familiar with the app. “Yeah, no. Why isn’t your face there?”
“Because people should like me for my personality, not my face.”
“Well, your face helps.”
“I think that was a compliment.”
Josh grinned. “It was. You need a real photo of yourself, Kinsley. The book one is cute, but it’s not for your main photo.”
“Did you just call me cute?”
“No, I called the photo cute. Do you have any others?”
“My Facebook profile, I guess.”
“Anything not two years old?”
I harrumphed. “No.”
“Then you’re going to have to take one tomorrow.”
“Fine, I’ll take one tomorrow at the store.”
“You’re determined to get books in your profile picture, aren’t you?”
Slowly, I raised my wine glass to my lips and sipped. I wasn’t even going to answer such a stupid question.
Of course I was going to have books in my profile picture.
What kind of bookworm did he think I was?
“All right, all right, all right.” He waved a hand. “Your profile isn’t bad, but a little more information isn’t going to hurt. You like hiking the trails, so you can put that in. You should also really include what you’re looking for out of the website. Some people are there for a good time, some are there for casual dates, and some are there for a relationship like you are. The last thing you want is to waste your time on someone just looking for a hookup.”
“Fine, pass me my phone.” I made a ‘gimme’ motion with my hand and he gave it back to me. I clicked the button to edit my profile and set to it, then read it out when I was done. ““Perpetually awkward bookworm with unlimited access to books and questionable White Peak magnets. I like to spend my mornings gardening with my coffee and mentally judging fictional people for their bad decisions. A fan of hiking the trails around town, but you might have to brace yourself for bookish rants. Looking for a relationship where we can mutually disparage awful book-to-movie adaptations into our old age.””
Josh blinked at me. “Well, there’s a lot more detail in there, that’s for sure.”
“What’s wrong with that? I might as well be honest about what I want from life.”
“It’s like you’re trying to make this hard for me.”
“Well, I’m not going to go out of my way to make this easy.”
He rubbed his jaw again. “All right, fine. I need your login info and I need to know what kind of guy you’re looking for.”
I texted him the login for
