The Introvert's Guide to Online Dating - Emma Hart Page 0,32
Tori?”
“Probably,” Josh said nonchalantly. “He’s been sleeping with her for months.”
“How the fuck did you know that?” I demanded.
“Small town. You live down the street. She’s not that great at parking. Kinda put two and two together after a while.” He picked up his bottle. “Oh. Kinsley knows, too.”
Of course my sister knew.
Why wouldn’t she?
“And I’m assuming Saylor knows?” I asked Dylan.
“Figured it out the other day when you met Cora.”
The day Saylor and Tori left the bar with Tori in a foul mood.
I grunted and finished my beer.
“So I was the only person who didn’t know?” Seb scoffed. “Thanks.”
“No. Holley doesn’t know. I assume Ivy, Kai, London, and Piper don’t know,” I offered. “Although you’ll tell Holley, and she’ll tell Ivy, who’ll tell Kai, and I assume London and Piper will find out somehow, and we’ll never be able to speak to each other again.”
Everyone laughed.
“Drama queen,” Josh said. “So you were sleeping together. That’s all, right?”
The look in his eye told me he fucking knew that wasn’t all, but he didn’t care. He was going to make me say it.
“I don’t want to talk about her. She called it quits this afternoon. She’s out on a damn date with London and some guy called Max, so can we focus on something else?”
“Football!” Dylan said brightly. “Let’s talk about football.”
“Real football or soccer?” Seb asked dryly.
“Football,” our British friend repeated. “You know, the one where you use your foot for the ball?”
It was an argument we’d heard a thousand times.
Nobody ever won.
“I’m going to the bar. Anyone want a drink? I’d rather run through town naked in January than bear witness to this fucking argument again.” I got up, and everyone motioned that another beer would be good, and immediately got back into the soccer-slash-football argument.
I headed up to the bar. It wasn’t full Friday-night busy here yet, so the wait to order more drinks wasn’t too long. The time away from the table did allow me to give my head a shake and sort my thoughts, and I was grateful for that.
I couldn’t believe she’d ended it.
By text.
She really had to like that Max guy, whoever he was. Although our relationship was tumultuous, a part of me had felt like we were slowly getting somewhere. Sometimes I got glimpses that made me wonder if it was more than sex, if she had an ounce of the feelings for me that I had for her.
Clearly, I’d been wrong.
But because I’d been a fucking child when we’d texted, she probably thought I was at my place with Cora.
Was she at hers with Max?
She’d made her intentions clear. She planned on taking him home.
Which she could do.
She could do what she wanted with whoever she wanted.
She’d made that abundantly clear to me.
I paid for the drinks and grabbed the tray to take it back to the table. There was not enough beer on this tray for my foul mood. Cora hadn’t deserved my mood tonight, and I shouldn’t have been an asshole and invited her out when I knew I couldn’t treat her the way she deserved to be treated.
I had her address. I’d send her flowers or something to apologize for it not working out and for my bitch of an attitude.
It was the least I could do.
“Are you still arguing about it?” I slid the tray onto the table and grabbed my bottle. “We’ve been doing this for months. Nobody wins.”
“He’s got a point.” Seb swigged his beer. “Nobody ever wins this argument. Especially not by the time Oliver gets involved.”
I snorted at the mention of his soccer coach. Oliver was Dylan’s friend, and he’d rescued him from a shitty job on the East coast. He was great at what he did, but fuck me, he’d argue the soccer-slash-football thing until he was basically a Smurf.
Then he’d tell us about how American owners are ruining ‘the beautiful game.’
That was one not even we could argue with.
Mostly because we didn’t want to fall down that rabbit hole or we’d end up wearing blue dresses and answering to the name Alice.
“How’s the climbing wall?” I asked Seb.
“It’s good, yeah.” He nodded. “We’ve had those few test runs, and it seems to be going down well, especially with older kids, so I think I’ll bring a guy in to teach rock climbing. If it’s popular, I’ll get a couple of bigger ones for an outdoor area.”
“You’re gonna need more acres soon.”
He fought a smile. “Negotiating with the farmer for another twenty. He’s