“Does it work?”
“Usually.”
“Smart girl.”
“She’s the best.”
“I think she’s said two words to me so far,” I said.
Jake nodded but didn’t seem too concerned. “Yeah, she’s still getting her feet under her.”
We sat in silence for a moment, watching her, before Jake spoke once more. “I didn’t say that stuff about you being the hangout friend to have you make it your life mantra. You didn’t, did you?”
“No,” I said the word, almost too quickly. But he looked so concerned at the thought, I could only deny it. Though, the slightest feeling of doubt began creeping in as I briefly considered my life’s experiences over the past ten years. No. It wasn’t that. At least, it wasn’tjustthat.
“What happened on your date the other night with Briggs?”
“You just shut down my question, but now you want me to tell you my stuff?”
“Yeah.”
When I gave him a look, he only grinned. “Or I could just go to bed right now.” He started to rise, but my hand shot out, gripping his forearm and pulling him back to his seat.
“You don’t play fair.”
“Your poker face sucks.”
Of course it did. Even after countless nights playing Texas Hold 'Em with Jake and Dusty, I could never get into the groove of bluffing away a bad hand. I was too excited to be chill for the good hands and wanted commiseration for the bad. I don’t know why I’d be any different here.
“For what it’s worth, I thought you and Briggs felt like poetry tonight.”
“Shut up,” I said, bumping his shoulder with mine again and enjoying the way his eyes crinkled when he laughed.
“Just tell me. You know you can’t hold it in.”
I sighed. “It doesn’t make sense that I have problems with dating when I was raised by my dad and Chad, who both have the emotional and social charms of a grizzly bear.”
“What happened, Tuck?”
“I thought he was going in for a kiss, and then I accidentally punched his arm instead.”
He blinked several times, allowing my statement to awkwardly hang in the air.
“How do you accidentally punch him?”
“That’s not even the worst part. He was just going in for a hug. My brain saw him coming closer and made it all much worse.”
“He still wants to go out with you, though,” Jake observed. “It must have just been your puny right hook.”
Though I tried to resist, a smile came unbidden. “I also said “whoa boy” like he was a horse.” I knew I’d regret that one, but at this moment, we were Jake and Shelby of ten years ago. All it took was Jake cracking a smile, and it made whatever happened almost worth it.
“So, all that combined with tonight has set me back pretty far mentally,” I added, leaning forward in my seat.
“Eh, it’s good for Briggs to be brought down a peg or two.”
“Besides his tailbone, I’m more worried about me.” I waited a beat before adding something I had thought about. “What if I meet the right guy and then I run over him with my car or something?”
Jake nodded softly. “I do think it’s possible.”