AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I could tell he was awake now. “I need to vent.”
“If you don’t mind if I take a piss, go ahead and vent.”
“You couldn’t just mute me? Or maybe put me on the bed and come back?”
“Don’t tempt me.”
It was a running joke between us, the flirting. Truth was, though Garrett was a good-looking guy, I wasn’t attracted to him. And he wasn’t attracted to me. We got drunk one night and confessed those particular facts. Some said you couldn’t really have a single guy friend without anything else going on, but I knew that wasn’t true.
And then there was Cos, when he was single, and Marco. Also both extremely gorgeous men. And yet, nothing. Only Neo set my heart racing every time he stepped into the room.
“Please. So speaking of beds, any fresh new ideas on how to stop imagining myself in one with”—I lowered my voice even though there was no one in the shop—“Neo?”
“Uh-oh, it must be bad. I haven’t gotten a panicked Neo call in like, I don’t know, at least a month.”
He was exaggerating. It had been at least two.
“He just came in for donuts.”
“You don’t say! How shockingly scandalous.”
“Stop it,” I scolded him. “This is serious.”
“Is it really, though? You’re single. He’s single. Tell him and call it a day so we can all move on with our lives.”
“I don’t know why I even bother.”
“I don’t either. Different day, same advice.”
I could hear his coffee machine in the background. “You know I can’t do that.”
A loud sigh was followed by, “Because of Min.”
“Exactly.”
“And the fact that she’ll be appalled you’ve had a crush on her brother for basically ever and didn’t tell her.”
“Ding, ding, ding.”
“And also because, if he doesn’t reciprocate—”
“Which he doesn’t. He sees me as a sister.”
“And if he doesn’t reciprocate,” Garrett said, ignoring my last statement, “it’ll be awkward.”
“An understatement. I’d have to quit my job. Literally. And Min and I might never recover.” These were all arguments we had been through before. “I’m sorry. I know this is old news. And there’s nothing I can do. It’s just,” I sighed, “he smelled so damn good.”
“Smells good. Looks better. He’s funny and smart and creative and nice and—”
“Okay, that’s enough.”
“Listen, don’t ever apologize for calling me. Then I’d have to apologize to you for my drunk butt dials, and I won’t do that.”
“Oooh, what happened that night?”
“Nothing I want to talk about this early in the morning. Anyway, you’ve been panting over this guy for as long as I can remember.”
“I’m notpanting.”
