It was true. Ryan always got extra fries. Frankly, it was offensive, so I reached over and took a handful off his plate. “There was a vibe,” I announced, shoving the rest of the burger into my mouth.
“A vibe,” Wes echoed.
Ryan nodded. “She’s into you.”
“No way,” Wes said, picking up his soda.
I leaned over, wagging my eyebrows at him. “You sure you don’t want to take a walk on the hetero side?”
Wes rolled his eyes, and Ryan choked on his food. “No. I like the homo side just fine.”
I was halfway through the mountain of fries when Shirley a.k.a. Veronica brought me another burger. “Yes!” I exclaimed, snatching it up to take a bite.
“Coach rode your ass tonight,” Wes observed.
I made a face and kept eating.
Ryan sat back in the booth, focusing all his attention on me. “I told you to go get laid.”
I took another bite.
“That’s why you’ve been in a shit mood?” Wes asked, leaning his elbows on the table.
“No,” I said, but at the same time, Ryan said, “Yes.”
The half-eaten burger dropped onto my plate, and I picked up my soda.
Ryan just wouldn’t let it go. “You should have listened. Now you’re getting distracted in the water.”
The plates vibrated under the force of my fist coming down on the table.
The guys in the booth behind us looked up. But when no one said anything, they went back to their conversation.
Ryan just sat there, waiting me out. Staring.
“I did, okay?” I hissed.
Surprise turned Ryan’s eyes wide. Leaning over the table, he asked, “You got laid, and you’re still like this?”
My lip curled, and then I drooped into the bench seat at my back. “It didn’t work.”
“Bro.” Ryan drifted back into his own seat.
“I know,” I said, misery dripping from the words.
“Am I missing something?” Wes asked, looking between us.
“You got it that bad?” Ryan whispered the question as though he couldn’t believe it.
I couldn’t even blame him. I recalled a time when I asked him the same thing. I hadn’t believed it either.
But it was true… He had it bad.
And I was very, very afraid I did too.
“Did you even get a sample?” Ryan asked.
I groaned.
Ryan shook his head, a laugh rushing out of him. “This is fucking classic.”
“Hello,” Wes said, waving his hand over the table between us. “Not cool having a convo and keeping me out of the loop.”
“Jamie has a thing for Madison,” Ryan told him.
Wes jolted a little. “Rory’s friend Madison?”
“That’s the one.” He confirmed.
Wes gave me a dubious look. “You asked her out, and she said no?”
I appreciated his clear disbelief in that. I mean, who says no to all this?
“She’s been avoiding me like the plague, and I haven’t even been able to ask her out.” I scrubbed a hand over my face.
“How do you know she’s avoiding you?” Wes wanted to know.
“I gave her my number. She never used it.”
“Maybe she lost it.” He tried.
“I put it in her phone myself.” And I was charming as hell about it too.
He grimaced and glanced at Ryan for help. But Ryan was sitting there looking like something crawled up his ass and died.
I squinted. “Where’s camera girl?” I asked about his girlfriend, Rory. She was into photography, and she always got annoyed when I called her bro. Didn’t know why. It’s totally gender-neutral. So anyway, sometimes I called her camera girl.
Ryan cleared his throat. “She, ah, had some stuff to do.”
“What stuff?” I pushed. Rory always met us here to eat after evening practices.
Ryan’s lips pursed, but then he sighed. “She’s having dinner with Madison.”
I growled deep in my throat. Swiveling my head in Wes’s direction, I raised an eyebrow. “See? Avoiding me like the plague.”
Ryan shrugged. “Some girls don’t have taste, bro.”
It was the same thing I said to him back then. He didn’t take it too kindly, and now I understood why. And also, I taste so good. I’m everyone’s taste.
I gave him the finger and went back to my burger. Rory must have known. I mean, Mads would have had to tell her why she didn’t want to come here tonight. Girls always talked about their feelings and shit.
Chewing, I leaned back to fish my cell out of the pocket of my sweats. Taking another bite of the burger, I unlocked it and called up her number.
Ryan had like ESP or some shit when it came to that girl because he said, “Who are you calling?”
“Camera girl.”
He snatched the phone out of my hand so fast it was already on his side of the table by the time I lunged for it.
“Give me the phone, Ryan,” I rumbled.
“Like hell I will. You are not putting my girl in the middle of this.”
“I don’t even know what this is. That’s why I need to call her.”
Wes nodded. “He has a point.”
I raised my hand. See? He knows.
Again, my bro looked like there was something dead living in his ass.
“You trying to cockblock me?” I challenged.
“The fact you think I’m cockblocking you because I won’t let you call my girl…”
I gritted my teeth. “Who is with my girl right now.”
Ryan crossed his arms over his chest. “Your girl?”
Hell yes, my girl. She was mine from the minute Ryan and I ran into the theater to stop our former Elite bad apple from attacking Rory. Madison also suffered collateral damage by that douche-canoe. And now she was mine.
Even if she didn’t know it.
“Yes,” I intoned, not a hint of give in my voice.
“When’s the last time you saw her?” Wes asked.
I tore my eyes from Ryan to answer. “Right after all that shit with Hughes went down.”
“And every time you try and see her, she avoids you?”
I shifted in the booth. “She hasn’t called.”
“But you’ve tried to see her.” Wes pushed.
“Noo.” I drew out the word a little. I mean, I wasn’t used to doing the chasing. Most girls just came to me.
Wes leaned over and snatched a fry off my plate. I smacked his hand, but he grinned and ate it anyway. “Maybe she thinks you’re avoiding her.”
“I gave her my number.”
“Pretty sure girls like it when the guy calls first.”
I tilted my head. “You sure you’re gay?”
Wes laughed. “I have more time to pay attention to women because I’m not busy trying to get in their pants.”
“Fair point.” Ryan allowed.
I mean, I guess it was possible she thought that…
No. No way. Madison was avoiding me. Deep down, my gut was screaming it.
I glanced at Ryan, feeling a little twinkle in my eye. “Bro, it’s time I up my game.”
A slow smile spread over his face.
Mads was definitely avoiding me. But… no one said I had to make it easy for her.