Holding his arm out for me to curl under, he pulled me in close as he got settled up against the pillows.
“Switch.”
I handed him my cup and took his from him before taking a sip. “Chocolate, banana?” He made an affirmative noise, and once he stopped moving, I got comfortable against him and sighed. “Thanks, friend.”
“Anytime, wingman.”
August 5, 2013
Eli
JASON SWUNG INTO my office and slapped his hand on the door. “Lunch?”
“Uh . . . yeah. Just let me send this last thing . . . done. Where are we going?”
“Deli around the corner? I can’t be gone long, I’m slammed with everyone taking their vacations.”
“Sure, are the girls coming?” I asked distractedly as I loosened my tie and rolled up the sleeves of my shirt.
“Nah, you’ll just have to deal with looking at my beautiful face.”
I snorted and followed him down the stairs and out of the building.
“What’d you do the rest of the weekend?” he asked once we’d gotten our food and were sitting down.
I shrugged, buying myself some time as I tried to finish the bite I’d just taken. “Spent the night at Paisley’s after the party on Saturday, did our Sunday morning thing, went to the gym, then just chilled at my place the rest of the day. You?”
“Of course you did,” Jason mumbled.
“Of course I did what?”
“Spent the night with Paisley,” he answered with a challenging look. “You’re twenty-five, you don’t need to be having sleepovers with your best friend when there’s nothing else going on between you two. It’s weird.”
“Dude, you know I sleep better when Paisley is next to me.”
“It’s weird,” he repeated.
I shrugged. “It isn’t to us. She’s been sleeping next to me for years, and that’s how I prefer it. What’s weird is sleeping without her.
Jason rolled his eyes. “Whatever, I’m not getting into that with you today, but speaking of Paisley . . . thanks for being a twat block the other night, you dick.”
The change of subject caught me off guard for a second, but when I remembered the guy from Paisley’s party, I huffed. “You’re shitting me, right?”
“When was the last time she dated anyone . . . a year ago?”
Two. But I kept that to myself.
“And then Kristen and I try to set her up with someone, and you not only make her change, you won’t let her near Sean the rest of the night.”
“Okay, hold on.” I sat back in my chair and swallowed more food. “That guy was a creep. He was feeling up one girl and flirting with another at the same time when you went to get the girls.” Jason looked surprised, but I kept talking before he could. “Like I told Pay when I was making her put some goddamn clothes on—and you can let Kristen know she made her look like a hooker, by the way—I’d never try to stop Pay from dating someone as long as I thought he’d be good to her. And your pick definitely wouldn’t have been good to her. I was saving her from a douche who would’ve wanted her for all the wrong reasons, you’re welcome.”
Jason sat there for a few seconds with wide eyes. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, where’d you find him anyway?”
“I went to college with him.”
“Nice,” I mumbled before picking my sandwich back up. “Stop trying to set Pay up. If she meets someone, she meets someone.”
“That’s a little hard to do with you around,” he argued.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
He avoided looking at me, keeping his eyes on his sandwich like it was the most interesting thing in the world. “It means you usually scare off anyone who tries to approach her.”
“Did you not just hear me? I want her to find someone, I just don’t want her to waste her time—”
“She’s your best friend, Eli, you’re never going to be okay with any of the guys. I know I’ve only known you a couple years, but I’ve heard enough stories from Kristen to know you have never let a relationship of hers last. You’ve found a way to end it.”
My eyes narrowed and I locked my jaw as I calmed myself. “Bullshit.”
“Can you name any guy she dated where you didn’t have a hand in ending that relationship?”
No. “She barely dates!”
He raised an eyebrow. “Exactly.”
I laughed agitatedly. “Whatever. I’m not stopping her from doing shit.”
“Maybe you just don’t realize it. But I know this, she’s about to be twenty-five. From conversations I’ve heard between her and my wife, she’s ready to settle down and get married. Whenever she’s out somewhere and you’re with her—which is always—the only time you’re not scaring guys away from her is when you’re too distracted by the girls you’re about to take home to fuck.”
“I don’t scare guys away from her.”
“You pull her close to your side and leave your arm around her whenever they start walking toward her!”
And? “She really wants to get married?”
Jason’s face looked like he couldn’t understand how I didn’t know that. “Yeah.”
Paisley get married? But then . . . “Damn it, I’m not ready to lose my wingman . . .”