“I’d fuck her seven ways to Sunday,” Finn said. “She’s hot as hell.”
“Thought you said you hadn’t spoken to her since high school.” I pocketed my phone.
“I haven’t,” Finn replied. “But I don’t need to talk to her to know I’d like to fuck her.”
“Damn right.” Liam slammed his empty coffee mug on the table. “C’mon. Let’s go before Joel kicks our asses.”
Sometimes, I wondered if it would have been easier to be born a woman.
There was no way women talked this crudely about guys, was there?
CHAPTER TEN
* * *
REAGAN
Danger, Danger!
“I literally came in my sleep,” I hissed, flattening my hands against the table. “This is a problem!”
Ava blinked at me. “I don’t really know how to respond to that.”
Groaning, I slumped forward on the table and buried my face in my arms. This was going from bad to worse.
“I see the drama llama is joining us for lunch today.” Halley pulled out a chair and sat down. “What did I miss?”
I groaned again.
“I got this,” Ava said. “She had a dirty dream about Noah last night and, apparently, orgasmed while she slept.”
“Well, shit. The drama is justified for once.”
I sat back up and shot daggers at my best friends. “This is serious, you guys. I think it’s my subconscious taunting me.”
Halley adjusted her glasses. “The subconscious does control your dreams. Does that mean you actually want to sleep with him?”
“Of course I want to sleep with him,” I hissed. “Have you seen him? He’s a walking wet dream!”
“I’m glad we cleared that up,” Ava muttered.
“The problem is that I don’t think he sees me that way,” I continued, grabbing a paper napkin so I had something to fiddle with. “I knew I shouldn’t have called him last night.”
“You called him?”
Halley choked on her water. “What she said.”
I nodded. “I did. We were talking about TV, and he tried to bait me about Ross, and I called him to whine. You know how I feel about Ross Geller.”
They both nodded their heads. After all, they’d heard all about how he was The Worst Character Ever. I could write a book on it. At least a solid blog post or a viral Twitter rant.
“We talked for a bit until Bethel came banging at my door like the dictator she is.”
Halley opened her menu and nodded for me to continue while she read.
“I think that was it. He has the best voice—like, he could read me the phonebook and I’d probably come right in my pants.”
“Like you did while you slept.” Ava hid a smile by wrapping her lips around her straw.
I glared at her. “Here’s the thing: when I was in the fire, before I knew who Noah was, I promised myself that if I survived it, I’d find out where he lived and if it was possible, ask him out.”
“Ohhh,” Halley said, closing the menu. “And lunch yesterday was his idea and not romantic at all.”
“Right.”
“So ask him out,” Ava said, looking at me like I’d lost more than a few brain cells. “Since when have you ever cared about anything like that? You’re the confident one out of us. Halley was in love with Preston for years before the kissing booth got them together and, if Preston hadn’t done it, there’s no way they’d be together right now.”
“Hey!” Halley tapped her with her menu. “I could have told him.”
“No, you wouldn’t have,” I replied with a slight shake of my head.
Ava looked at her pointedly before turning her attention back to me. “I’m a hot mess. I can’t keep a relationship going to save my life, and I have feelings for Ethan who, by the way, I barely stand as a friend. I’m only nice to him because of my brother. But you, Reagan? You’re the one who just goes for it. You’ve said over and over how you think we’re stupid for having all these feelings and not acting on them.”
Halley slowly smiled. “My, my, my, how the tables have turned.”
This was a terrible idea.
“All right. So I’m being a chicken.” I held up both of my hands right as our waitress came over. We all made our order before I picked the conversation back up. “Thing is, it’s weird, isn’t it? We’ve talked way more over text than anything else, and he still keeps texting me back even though I’m a bit of a weirdo.”
“At least you admit it.” Halley raised her water in my direction.
“Just ask him out!” Ava banged her hands on the table. “Goddamn it, Reagan!”
“Okay, first, you are the last person who should be getting annoyed with me,” I pointed out. “Have you asked Ethan out yet?”
“Shut up.”
“Exactly.”
“She’s right,” Halley said, moving hair away from her glasses. “You should just ask him out. You know you get along, so it’s not going to be a complete disaster. Otherwise, you’re going to regret it. Plus, he’s literally your dream guy.”
I whimpered. “He even has a chihuahua.”
Ava’s eyes widened. “Ask him! Now!”
“I’m not texting him now!”
“Why not?”
“Because he’s at work.”
“And how do you know that?”
“I think you should go away.” I folded my arms across my chest.
Halley sniggered. “You don’t have to do it now, but seriously, Reagan… You haven’t been on a date in forever. Even if you don’t have anything romantically—because no, liking the way his dick looks is not the basis for a romantic connection—you’re either going to be friends or fuck each other a few times, and that’s okay.”
She had a point.
I was insanely attracted to Noah, and sometimes, when he looked at me, I got the feeling that he was attracted to me, too.
Maybe I did need to stop being a hypocrite and just ask Noah out.
What was the worst that could happen?
***
I picked up my phone before putting it back down on the sofa again. I’d been pacing the living room now for ten minutes. Thankfully, nobody else was at home, or they’d have carted me back off to the hospital to be admitted for mental health reasons.
At least that was what Aunt Bethel had threatened when she’d heard me on the phone to Noah until late last night.
I thought she was the one who needed admitting for mental health reasons.
The front door opened. “Mom?”
“She’s not here,” I shouted toward my brother.
“Fuck’s sake.” The front door closed, and Preston clomped into the living room. “Where is she?”
“Hi, sis. How are you, sis? Good to see you up, sis.”
He pulled me into a one-arm hug. “Yeah, yeah, you’re fine. Where’s Mom?”
“I don’t know. I’m not her keeper.” I dropped down onto the sofa and caught my phone before it bounced off. “Why?”