Think, you idiot—think of something interesting to say. Eli seemed cool, and I needed to get my shit together so I could forget about the way Charlie made me feel.
Charlie knocked down eight pins, and I asked Eli, “Do you ever go back?”
“No,” he said, and then he looked over his shoulder and said, “You’re next, Dana—better start getting pumped.”
“To kick your ass?” She smiled and said, “Yeah, I’m already on it.”
Dammit. Since the minute Dana and Eli had teamed up to mock Charlie when he dropped his ball, there had been a super-flirty vibe between those two. It seemed like no matter what I said, or whatever hilarious thing Charlie did, those two only had attention for each other.
I wanted to scream, Look at ME, Eli!
Charlie went again and hit two pins, but when he turned around, I was the only one watching. Eli was gesturing for Dana to go, and she did some sort of adorably dramatic bow that made him laugh loudly.
“Your friend is totally falling for me,” Charlie murmured dryly as he walked by and went over to his drink.
I got up and followed him, since Eli was so into trash-talking with Dana.
I made sure neither of them was looking before I said, “Eli has zero interest in me, by the way.”
“Yeah, I noticed,” he said. “I wouldn’t take it personally, though; your little buddy didn’t even laugh when I told her about the butter.”
“What?” He’d dropped butter on the floor that morning, and then stepped on it, slipped and fell, and somehow ended up with butter in his eye. I’d cried actual tears when he’d told me the hilarious story. “I think these two are wanks for not being into us.”
“Same.”
“Still try, though,” I said, watching Dana throw her head back and laugh at Eli. “She’s really great, and I think you’d hit it off. Y’know… if Eli weren’t here.”
He looked at me like I was deranged, but said, “I’ll try. And E loves the Chicago Cubs. Maybe talk about that and lure him in.”
“You think I need baseball to get a guy?”
He just gave me a look.
“That’s insulting,” I whined, elbowing him in the ribs ever so lightly. “Maybe I should give him a taste of the Bailey Special.”
That made his eyes smile, even though his mouth didn’t move. “Cow tongue on toasted bread?”
I lowered my voice, leaned a little closer, and said, “No. It’s Moldova but with my hands on his chest.”
I expected him to laugh.
Instead, he leaned even closer—or maybe I imagined it—and his eyes were on my mouth when he said, “Don’t you fucking dare.”
My heart fluttered in my chest at the intensity of his gaze as he towered over me.
“You don’t want me to kiss him?” I asked in a near whisper, my breath stuck in my lungs.
“Your call on that.” His jaw clenched—flex, unflex—and then he said, “But Moldova is mine.”
“You’re up, Charlie,” Eli yelled.
I blinked fast as we stepped apart and the sounds of the bowling alley returned to my ears.
What the hell was that?
Charlie’s face changed then, the intensity sliding into a measured smirk, and he said, “Time to go bowl some strikes and strike out at love.”
He walked over to the ball return, leaving me and my entire body thrumming with energy.
* * *
After the game, the four of us went into the snack bar for dinner. Charlie and Eli were laughing about some guy they knew as we waited for our baskets of bowling alley food when Dana pulled me aside.
“So… do you like Eli?” She looked toward the guys, then back at me. “He is so funny and cute—you’re lucky Charlie set you up with him.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I honestly haven’t really talked to him much so far.”
She nodded and glanced—yet again—at Eli and Charlie.
“So what do you think of Charlie?” I asked. “Cute, right?”
“Yeah,” she said, shrugging. “I mean, he’s cool, but I don’t really feel like there’s a spark.”
I looked over at Charlie and remembered his face when he’d been gazing at Becca at that party, the sad smile, and I didn’t want him to get rejected his first time back out there. Especially when his friends acted like he’d been a hermit since getting dumped.
“He’s so hilarious when you get to know him—give him a chance.”
“I don’t want to let him think there’s a chance when there isn’t.”
“No, I know.” I sighed, realizing that would be worse. “Sorry. He’s just my friend, and I wanted to find someone for him.”
“I think it’s cool how close you are,” Dana said. “I’d love to have a guy friend.”
I gave Charlie another glance, and as he smiled his smart-ass grin, looking cute in his jeans and long-sleeve tee, I wondered if he’d been right all along. Was it possible to just be friends? Because as I watched him, it was definitely more than friendship I was feeling.
Dammit.
We went back to the table, and the rest of the night pretty much went like bowling. Charlie and I tried showcasing each other, but our dates seemed to be equally disinterested in each of us.
I mentioned the Chicago Cubs, but when Eli said Are you a Cubs fan? and I said no, it dissolved into just another awkward attempt at lame small talk.
At the end of the night, as we put on our jackets and gave back the bowling shoes, Dana said to me, “I have to go pick up my car tonight from the shop on Blondo where it got new tires, and I totally don’t feel like it.”
“I live on Blondo,” Eli volunteered, his eyes lighting up like her freshly tired car was the greatest news he’d ever heard. “I can drop you on my way home, if you want.”
Dana’s face brightened. “Seriously?”
“But you said you’d go with me to Target after bowling,” I whined.
“I’m sure Charlie will,” Eli said, giving me the metaphorical boot. “Right, Charlie?”
Talk about feeling like an unattractive loser.
“Sure,” he said, his eyes on me like he was trying to figure out how I felt about the brush-off. “I want to go see my cat anyway; now I can bring him a toy.”
Dana and Eli looked beside themselves with joy as they said goodbye and headed for his car. Charlie and I, on the other hand, walked to his car in silence, each of us lost in our own thoughts. When we got to the vehicle, he said, “Did we seriously both get ditched by our dates?”
I stopped as he hit unlock. “Looks that way.”
Charlie said, “Did Dana tell you what she said when I asked her about college?”
“No.”
“I asked if she was going away or staying local. You know, just to show an interest in her life, right?”
I nodded. “Right…？”
He gave me a funny eye roll. “She said, and I quote, I’m not looking for a relationship right now.”
“Shut up!” I opened the passenger door and climbed inside the car. “That seems so arrogant, to assume that you are, with her.”
“And it didn’t even answer the question. I still have no idea if she’s going to MCC, Harvard, or Clown U, for fuck’s sake.”