“Oh my gosh, I completely forgot about that,” Genesis says, cutting her salad into more manageable bites. “The baseball team had no idea you could actually hit a ball, let alone off their best pitcher.”
The now very lively Edwin dusts off his shoulders. “Sometimes the nerd can play a little sport too.”
“And get the ladies,” Genesis says with a wink.
Kelsey pushes her salad to the side while I dab my mouth with my napkin, not sure how to contribute to this conversation.
All I can think of is how athletes usually don’t use the phrase “play a little sport.”
“Wow, I am so impressed with you right now, Edwin.” Genesis smiles brightly.
“Impressed with me?” Edwin says, pointing the tip of his fork at his chest. “You’re the one who’s the vice president of Mecca Tech.”
Genesis waves him off. “But you’ve changed the medical field in the best way possible.”
“What did you do?” Kelsey asks, attempting to butt into the conversation. But like every other attempt, she’s brushed off.
“I thought about you, the night I got my award,” Edwin says. “I considered calling you.”
“You should have. I would’ve answered in a flash.”
A flash, huh?
Well, she takes at least a few hours to answer my text messages.
Not sure why I divulged that deprecating information, but there you have it. Clearly, I’m not as important as Edwin.
I take a very large bite of my dessert as Genesis laughs so loud I feel like stuffing her half-eaten piece of bread into my ear to drown out the noise.
“The pants are in the oven, oh my God.” Genesis waves her hand in front of her face, warding off her tears of laughter.
The joke isn’t that funny.
The pants are in the oven being the punchline . . . honestly, I don’t even get it.
And from the looks of it, neither does Kelsey, who’s mindlessly sipping her water, looking around the ballroom.
“I knew you’d like that one,” Edwin says. “You’ve always had a great sense of humor.”
“You always know how to make me laugh,” she replies.
Jesus Christ.
Barf.
“Wait, so Christie and Matt broke up?” Genesis asks. “I thought they were meant to be together forever.”
Clearly, they weren’t.
“Christie was cheating on Matt,” Edwin says.
Ooh, now . . . this is some juice I can get on board with. Let’s dive into the specifics.
“What?” Genesis asks. “But she told me Matt was the best she’d ever had.”
“It was with her strength coach,” Edwin says.
“Wait . . . Strength with Sven? Him?” Genesis asks. When Edwin nods, she slaps the table.
“Have you seen his Instagram? He has a ‘fans only’ page.”
Which could probably mean one thing: poor Matt’s penis was eclipsed by Sven’s most likely mammoth of a cannon.
I’m not particularly thrilled about being ignored this entire night, but the gossip about Matt and Christie has at least captured my interest for a second. Don’t know the people, but their adultery gossip is more entertaining than Edwin’s lackluster jokes.
Doesn’t seem like everyone is as keen on the Matt-and-Christie drama though. When I glance over at Kelsey, I spot her leaning on the table, her chin in her hand, looking wearier than ever. I’m trying not to let this girl get in my head again, but I actually feel bad for her, seeing her so bored.
Seems like there’s only one solution to this unconventional evening, one solution that will make this situation slightly more bearable . . .
“Why on earth would you switch seats with Edwin?” Kelsey asks through clenched teeth. Not sure I’ve ever seen a woman so perfectly poised and ballistically heated at the same time.
Well . . . I thought this was going to be a good idea. Once again, I’m proven wrong.
“I switched with Edwin so at least we didn’t have to hear about the old UCLA days anymore,” I answer while leaning back in my chair and staring around the ballroom.
The presentation about the Children’s Hospital just ended, and for a second, I thought that was going to be our out, that once the lights turned back on, I would be able to sneak Genesis away and bring her attention back to me. Once the presentation was done, however, Edwin leaned across the table and started rambling on about the coffee shop they used to go to all the time.
Fucking boring shit.
I couldn’t sit through it anymore, so I switched seats with him, which he gladly jumped on. And now that I’m sitting next to Kelsey, I’m wondering if that was a good idea after all and if I shouldn’t have just stuck out the monotony of traveling down memory lane with Genesis and Edwin.