lap? The only places that I know you can go to where a girl is going to sit on your lap are strip clubs.”
Connor laughed. “Hey man, don’t knock them. If you ever want to go, I’m always down. I love a strip club.”
I could feel jealousy burning in my stomach as he said that. Why did he have to bring up strip clubs in front of me? I didn’t want to hear about that. I don’t want to hear about other women grinding on him. I looked over at him and studied his face. He was staring at me with a half-smile. His red shirt was slightly unbuttoned and I could see some chest hair at the top of his tan chest. He looked hot.
“So, Connor.” I wanted to change the subject. “Maybe some time we could —.”
“Hold on a second,” he cut me off. “I’ve got a phone call. Um, I’ll be right back.”
He picked up his phone and then walked out of the bar. I sat there looking slightly frustrated and annoyed.
Sarah smiled at me. “Hey, I’m sorry about Harry just now. I don’t know why he’s being such a dick,” she looked at him. “Stop it, okay? You’re going to turn Connor off and you’re going to make him think that Gemma’s friends suck. And we don’t suck, okay?”
“What?” Harry just shrugged. “I was just doing the bad cop bit, okay? Testing him to see how he reacted to a douchebag.”
“So you’re telling me you were being a douchebag on purpose?” I looked at Harry not believing him for one second.
“Sure. I mean, anyone would be nice when your friends are nice, but what happens when you have a douchey friend? Is the guy going to overreact and go crazy? Or is he going to be calm, cool and collected? You know what I mean? I gave Connor points for that. He was calm, cool, collected.”
“I don’t know that I believe you.” I looked at Sarah. “Are you believing what Harry’s saying or not?”
“Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he was playing devil’s advocate to make sure that Connor’s a good guy, has a calm demeanor. I don’t know.”
“I don’t like that he just went outside and took his phone though.” I looked over my shoulder again to make sure Connor wasn’t coming back and listening to me. “I mean, if he’s on a date with me, shouldn’t all his focus and attention be on me?”
“I know, girl. But maybe it was for business. Maybe it was ... what was the name of that artist again? Poopoo Polisi?”
“No, it was Popo Polisi or something like that,” I laughed.
“Oh my gosh. Who calls themselves that?”
“I have no idea.”
We both started laughing and then I could feel the hairs on my neck going up. Connor was definitely coming back into the room and he was staring right at me.
Chapter 17
“Hey, Gemma, I hate to do this.” Connor said as he walked back into the bar. He approached the table, his hand still on his phone. I could see from the screen that he was still on a call.
“Oh no. Is everything okay?” I asked him, hoping that someone hadn’t gotten sick in his family.
“Yeah, everyone’s fine. It’s just a work thing. My artist, Midnight Blackbird, is actually really upset at the last recording we did and he had some new ideas, so he wants to get into the studio right away.”
“Oh, okay,” I looked at him in confusion. Was he really canceling our date to go produce some music?
“Yeah. I really hate to do this. It’s been nice meeting your friends, kind of, but I really should go. Rain check?”
“Sure,” I said and stood up, “well, it was good seeing you for a little bit.”
“Yeah, you too.” He gave me a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll send you a text later, okay?”
“Okay.”
He looked back at the table and gave a little wave. “Nice meeting you, Sarah and Harry. Maybe there’ll be a next time or something,” and then he walked out of the restaurant before any of us could respond. I could tell that the vibe between Connor and I was different from when he’d walked in. Something had happened. I looked back at Sarah and Harry and shrugged.
“So I guess that didn’t really go very well.”
“Yeah. I hope he’s okay,” Sarah mumbled over her words. I knew she didn’t know what to say. It was her fault for bringing Harry with her.