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Zach’s head whipped around to see Cody, who’d wandered up beside him. The latest addition to the party. Cody had been here less than ten minutes. After some very brief hellos, he’d been kept busy by Zach’s dad talking his ear off.
“She sure is,” he agreed, as his attention went back to flipping the burgers. “No need to ogle her though, man, unless you wanna get acquainted with my fist.” He was only half joking.
A throaty laugh erupted from his friend’s mouth. “Jesus, man. You got it bad. First with the moony eyes and now you’re threatening violence? Damn, brother.”
There was no use denying how bad he had it. He was well aware. Huffing, he side-eyed his friend. “Your point?”
“My point is, you need to keep it together. I can actually smell your desperation from here, dude. And that shit ain’t sexy.”
He was right. Even Zach had gotten a whiff of his own desperation today. He’d been a walking, talking example of what not to do when trying to get a girl to date you. Maybe he was still reeling from last night. Whatever it was, he needed to snap out of it and start upping his game. Otherwise, he’d have no chance of convincing Libby to date him.
“I know, man. I don’t know what it is about her; she’s like my fucking kryptonite.” Zach used his free hand to run his fingers through his hair in frustration. “She’s managed to burrow right under my goddamn skin. This is gonna sound messed up, but when I’m not with her ... she’s all I think about. I mean, that can’t be healthy, right?”
He could tell Cody wasn’t expecting a quite so honest response. But if he couldn’t talk to his best friend about this, he couldn’t talk to anybody.
“Shit.” Cody just shook his head. “I don’t know what to tell you, man. Other than, she must be one hell of a woman if she’s got you this fucked up.”
“She is. She really is. I’m telling you right now ... I’ve never felt like this before. We just click, y’know? She’s special. And look,” Zach gestured over to Libby who was now gossiping with his mom, “it’s not just me, everyone she meets sees it too. Luke was actually fucking giddy a minute ago. I mean, come on ... Luke, giddy? That fucker is one bad mood away from becoming a super villain.”
That got a snigger out of his friend. “Look, like I said before, just see where it goes with the whole friend thing. That’s all you can do.”
“Yeah.” Zach nodded.
“Don’t be offended, but I’ve got to ask ... you sure she likes you like that? The last thing I want is for you to get stuck in the friendzone.”
“Oh, she likes me like that alright.” A small smile finally made an appearance on his face. “I didn’t tell you, but we sort of—” He stopped mid-sentence as he heard voices approaching.
Peering up, his stomach twisted as he watched Libby and Luke make their way over to them. That was close. The last thing he needed was for her to overhear him bragging about getting to second base with her.
“No Dylan today?” Luke hollered.
“Nah, he’s fishing with my folks,” Cody replied, a charming smile curving his lips as he looked to Libby. “So, Libby, it’s nice to finally put a face to the name, seeing as Zach here hasn’t been able to shut up about you.”
“Hey!” Traitor.
“Oh,” she replied shyly. He could have sworn he saw a tinge of pink on those beautiful cheeks. “All good things, I hope?”
“You kidding me?” Cody chuckled. “The shit coming out of his mouth is practically poetic. You sure as hell made an impression.”
“And on that note” – one hard slap on his friend’s back later – “I think it’s time to eat! Luke, you wouldn’t mind serving up, would you? Cody, a word?” Zach resisted the urge to drag his so-called friend away by the scruff of his neck. Only just.
He didn’t wait for Luke to reply, instead, he led Cody back toward the main house and made sure they were out of ear shot. Once he was sure no one could hear, he shoved his friend hard enough to make him stumble.
“What the hell was that? Are you trying to send her running for the hills or what?”
Cody had the audacity to actually laugh. “Chill, man. I was testing her. I wanted to see her reaction.”
“Testing her,” my ass.
“Yeah? And what exactly is it you learned; other than how quickly you can throw me under the bus?”
“Well, other than the blush being pretty cute, not much. You dragged me out of there before I could do a thorough analysis.”
“Asshole.”
Zach’s gaze darted back over to the woman in question, who was still smiling as she helped Luke to serve up the food. Seeing her with his friends and family had stirred something inside of him. Something like yearning. It was making him feel off-balance. How was it possible that in such a short space of time, she’d not only managed to slot into his life so easily, but his friends’ and family’s lives too?
By the time they re-joined the others, everyone had taken a seat around the table. Thankfully, his family had been smart enough to leave him an open spot next to Libby.
