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I don't bother looking over my shoulder to see if Sam heard me. I don't care.
“And you certainly don't want to date a pussy,” Dylan says, nodding.
He's right about that. As cute as Sam the bartender is, there is no way I want to date a coward. Anyone who doesn't think I'm worth fighting with Austin over isn't worth it. There are plenty more fish in the sea. I just have to make sure I do all my future fishing where Dylan isn't around to kick the water.
“And you're going to find that most guys don't want to go up against Austin.” Dylan says solemnly. “There are a lot of scared people in the world.”
“You might be Austin's best friend, but he wants me to be happy. He'd never stand in between me and a date the way you just did.”
“You don't know how wrong you are,” he utters softly, his eyes never leaving mine. “He knows how important a future with the right guy is. He's going to warn off anyone he doesn't feel can give you that.”
I shake my head. “I don't believe you.”
“Then ask him.”
“I will. I'm going to go home and call him. And when he laughs at the absolute stupidity of what you just did, I'm going to ask him to call off his watchdog. I don't need you to play big brother to me, Dylan. I already have Austin.”
“He's not here right now.”
“I'm twenty-five, not five! I don't need a guardian.”
“I think the fact that you just walked up to a guy you barely know and asked him for a date disproves that theory. Austin is going to have my back on this one.”
“You're not my brother, Dylan. And you're certainly not my friend. Just stay the hell away from me.”
I try to brush past him, but he blocks me.
“No one wants to see you get hurt, Claire. Not Austin and not me.”
The sincerity in his voice only makes me see red.
“When have I ever done anything as reckless as you or Austin have? What have I done to make either of you think I can't be trusted to look after my own emotional well-being?”
“Well—”
“And if you say, ‘asked Sam for a date,' I'll kill you. Seriously, Dylan. You and Austin have had your fun and done plenty of stupid things. Maybe it's my turn to act a little reckless. Deal with it.”
“This isn't you, Claire. You don't just walk up to guys you don't know and ask them out.”
“I do now.”
“You're asking for trouble.”
“Maybe I am, but I'm looking forward to it.”
“I can't let you do that. Austin would kill me.”
“Just you try and stop me.”
With that, I shoulder past him and walk back to my friends. I'm half waiting for Dylan to come after me and try to talk me out of my plan, but thankfully, he doesn't.
“That looked intense,” Kara says as I sit down.
I don't know which part of the last ten minutes Kara is referring to. It all felt pretty intense to me; the almost kiss withDylan, asking out Sam the bartender, and then arguing with Dylan.
“I think I want to go home.”
“Why? Because Dylan is a dick?”
