His blinking slowed and became more dramatic, as if trying to warn me without anyone else knowing. “Stuff,” he muttered and then quickly mouthed, “Stop it.” Dave turned to the side and sweetly smiled at my neighbor.
I could tell that Jacoby wasn’t fooled, not for a second. He seemed to be on the verge of losing his grip, milliseconds away from hysterical laughter. I, on the other hand, didn’t find the same humor he did. “Hey, Dave…mind if I have a word with you in the kitchen?”
“It’s okay, Tiffany,” Jacoby said with humor flooding his tone. “I can go.”
“That’s not necessary.” I stood and held out my hand toward the couch to gesture for Jacoby to take a seat. “It’ll only be a second, I promise. While I’m there, though, would you like something to drink?”
“Uh, sure. Surprise me.”
I shoved Dave toward the kitchen. If he thought he’d get away with this unscathed, he was a moron. “What in the crap is wrong with you?” I whisper-shouted once we were out of earshot.
“If you don’t want him, then the least you could do is let me have a chance.”
“You think you’re his type?”
“Only one way to find out, isn’t there?”
I found myself questioning my own sanity for being friends with him in the first place. “You know as well as I do that he’s not interested in you. And you’re not interested in him. So what gives, Dave? Why did you drag him over here?”
He dropped his head back and huffed. “Fine…I saw him outside and thought that maybe he’d want to go grab a drink or something in town. I’ve never been here, so I just wanted to be a tourist for a day. And since you can’t leave the house, I thought I’d take my chances with the swoon-worthy Brad Pitt in there.”
I couldn’t do anything other than roll my eyes and shake my head while my best friend grabbed three cold cans of beer from the fridge. I didn’t even have the wherewithal to protest his choice of beverage. “That doesn’t explain why he’s here.”
“Oh, yeah…I guess he assumed I was inviting him over for a drink, and I was too much of a coward to correct him. Have you seen his eyes? If not, I suggest you avoid making eye contact when speaking to him. They’ll leave you without a single brain cell left in your head.”
“If this backfires, I had nothing to do with it. Let that be known now.”
He shrugged and led the way back to the living room.
Jacoby took the offered beer without complaint and pointed to the TV. “Is this The Last of Us?” he asked, referring to the video game I had paused.
“Part two, actually.”
He swung wide eyes my way, complete shock leaving his mouth gaping. “It’s not even out yet. How did you get a copy?”
It never got old.
I shrugged, trying to stave off my smirk, and said, “It’s a perk of my job.”
“What else does being a model get you?”
Crap. It seemed impossible to stay in character around him, which was one of the reasons I tried to stay away from him. It was only a matter of time before I accidentally let the cat out of the bag, and I couldn’t risk that happening.
“Oh, lots of things.” I added a giggle, hoping he wouldn’t notice the horror in my eyes.
Jacoby cracked open his can of beer and settled into the cushion next to me. He was so close I could smell his cologne. Or maybe it was his deodorant. Either way, he smelled delicious. In fact, he smelled so good it was almost distracting.
Well, not almost. It was distracting. So much so that I hadn’t even noticed Dave leave the room. We’d resumed the game, and between trying to concentrate on what I was doing and trying not to sniff my neighbor, I hadn’t realized that we were the only two in the room until I ran out of beer.
I passed the controller to Jacoby while I headed to the kitchen for another round. While I was there, I tried calling Dave, yet he didn’t pick up—no surprise there. I wasn’t sure why he’d left the room; it wasn’t like he was doing us any favors. I mean, Jacoby was under the impression that I was Tiffany, and he was well aware of Tiffany’s engagement to Adam. So I decided to shoot him a quick text to explain.