How to Date the Guy You Hate by Julie Kriss Page 0,48
find me was a pull-out bed in a spare room. I thanked the front desk woman, grabbed our bags, and led Megan to her room.
She was quietly panicking by then. “This is terrible,” she whispered to me when I closed her door behind us. The entire house was done in frilly Victorian style, with eyelet curtains and fancy lamps. She sat on the edge of her pristine white bedstead and squeezed her knees together. “I’m choking,” she admitted. “I can’t do this.”
“Sure you can,” I said, dropping her bags and sliding a hand onto the back of her neck, beneath her loose ponytail. “You’ll be fine.”
She pressed her hands to her eyes when she felt my touch. “Oh, my God, they’re making you sleep on a sofa. I’m so sorry.”
“Relax,” I said. “It’s a pull-out bed, not a sofa. And I did four years in the Marines. I’ve literally slept on rocks. This is easy as fuck.”
She made a choked sound, then took a breath. “I’m wearing jeans and flip-flops. Flip-flops. Did you see her suit?”
“You look better,” I said, keeping my hand on the back of her neck. She took another breath. I felt like I was coaching an athlete. I waited a minute, until I felt some of the tension drain out of her, and then I asked quietly, “Megan, why are you doing this to yourself?”
She inhaled deeply again. “They’re my mother’s family,” she said. She dropped her hands from her eyes, but she still didn’t look at me. “I stayed with Janice for that summer after my mother died, when I was seventeen. She was kind to me then. She hasn’t shown an interest in me since, but I keep thinking maybe that’s partly my fault. Maybe I cut myself off. Maybe I should try harder.” She sighed. “I’d like to have a relationship with them, if I can.”
I thought that over. I didn’t know my father anymore, and I didn’t want anything to do with his family, but that was my choice. I could see a different choice being tempting. “Okay, I get it,” I said, lifting my hand from her neck. “So you give it a try. Maybe it’ll work out.”
She looked up at me. “Maybe. If I don’t have a panic attack first.”
“Do you need an EMT?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “Because apparently I am one.”
She punched my thigh. “I hate you.”
“I know. Now get changed for dinner.” There was some dinner thing we were supposed to go to. “Unless you’d rather skip it and I can fuck you mindless in this ridiculous room.”
She looked around at the expensive handmade rug and the lace doily on the nightstand, as if seeing the room for the first time. “This room is… not sexy,” she admitted. “Neither is this tiny bed. Do you think anyone’s ever done it in here?”
“Give me twenty minutes and I’ll answer that question.”
She didn’t laugh, but she bit her lip, holding it in, and I knew she’d be okay, at least for now. “Get out of here, you pig,” she said. “Go get changed. I’m hungry.”
So, this was Kyle, the ex: Tall, thick dark hair, goatee, one earring, expensive silk shirt, and a job in app development for a startup tech company. The kind of guy who gets girls all the time, to the complete bafflement of other guys—we just can’t fucking figure it out. What do women see in a guy like that? It is one of the mysteries of the male universe.
He gave Megan a friendly hug in greeting at dinner, but he discreetly checked her out. I gave him the narrow-eyed stare I’d seen Shark use on the losers at Zoot Bar, and he nearly jumped like he’d had an electrical shock. Then they sat him on the other side of Stephanie, two seats away from Megan, and I didn’t have to worry about him anymore.
Stephanie was pretty, with dark blonde hair and long legs, and she was genuinely happy to see Megan. Instead of shaking my hand, she gave me a hug that smelled like lavender. “Megan’s boyfriend!” she said. “So exciting!” She chatted happily with Megan all through dinner, which was held in the reception hall overlooking the beach and the ocean. Since Megan was occupied, I spent my time chatting with the middle-aged lady on the other side of me—an aunt of Kyle’s—and checking out the other guests.
There were only fifty or so wedding guests, and Kyle’s aunt gave me the gossip on