“Dad or Mom?” I set my controller down, waiting to start another round.
Preston hesitates for a moment and I’m already prepared for him to brush me off per usual, but I’m surprised when he actually answers. “Dad.”
“How long you gonna keep ignoring him?”
“I’m not ignoring him. I’m focused.”
“Right.” I gesture toward the living room TV. “If this is focused then I’m sorry to say but you suck ass at this game.”
He scoffs, defensive perusal. “Like you’re any better, you’re sitting there with your fucking head in the clouds.”
My breath catches in the back of my throat and I look at him to find him already staring at me because he knows he’s right.
Damn it.
My best friend may be a douchebag but he’s observant, I’ll give him that.
“Enough of my shit.” Preston leans back on the couch, feet resting on the coffee table. “What’s going on with you?”
I guess there’s no point in hiding it and besides, I kind of need to get it off my chest.
“I uh—I finally was able to talk to Denise.”
“She finally tell you to fuck off?” He scrolls through different character skins just to pretend that he’s not so interested.
“Essentially, yeah.”
His eyes snap toward mine, darkening.
And because I know the temper on this guy, I roll my eyes and feel the need to talk him down. I’d rather not punch the shit out of my best friend for running his mouth about Denise.
“Dude relax,” I chuckle but I can tell the sound is hollow. “She made it pretty clear she wasn’t looking for anything serious.”
“Did she though? Because you’ve been running around all over Ellingbrooke with her and it looks like to me it was a little more than that.”
I shrug my shoulders. “I can’t make her like me.”
He rolls his eyes, going back to his half-assed character design and I want to tell him he’s not fooling anybody by pretending not to care.
But I refrain because I think this is the most serious conversation we’ve had ever since this whole fiasco with his mom.
“What exactly did she say?” he asks.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter because you look like a fucking kicked dog right now.”
I don’t argue with him on that because I’m pretty sure he’s right.
“She basically said she wasn’t looking for anything more than a hookup and that she didn’t want to pretend that she did.”
“Well that’s bullshit.”
“Preston, come on—”
He sets his controller down, his head turning to face me and for a brief moment, I see the way my best friend used to be.
Passionate as fuck and protective to a fault.