the guy you set your friend up with."
"Really?" I looked over at Rory. If he had been looking at me, he wasn't anymore. He was making out with the blonde girl. Fuck you, Jessica! I couldn't help but laugh at myself. I began to wonder what the odds were that her name actually was Jessica.
"Are you okay?" Brian asked.
I realized I had stopped dancing and was staring at them. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. You know what though? I forgot that I have an important meeting tomorrow morning and I have to wake up really early, so I'm going to get going." I couldn't watch them kissing in the middle of the dance floor. I felt sick to my stomach.
"Do you want me to walk you home?" he asked as we both got off the dance floor.
Walk me home? I didn't usually hang out in bars. But it seemed like a walk home was synonymous with a one night stand. And I never wanted to have another one of those again. All I wanted was Rory. Over and over and over again. But part of my master plan to win Rory over was to go on a date with another man. I needed to make Rory jealous. But I definitely didn't want to lead Brian on. It would be better if I went on a date with a pretend man. "No, that's okay. It was really nice meeting you, though, Brian."
"You too, Keira. Hopefully I'll see you here again one night."
I smiled at him and disappeared through the crowd. The fresh air immediately calmed me down. When I was walking with Rory, I hadn't noticed how far away the bar was. But now that I was alone the walk seemed endless. My heels clicking on the sidewalk was starting to drive me crazy.
I wasn't sure how long I could play it cool around Rory. Seeing him with that girl was really hard. Two days into my plan and I was already feeling desperate again.
Chapter 20
Ouch. I had fallen asleep at my desk writing and my back was killing me. I yawned and rubbed my eyes. The paper in front of me was filled with notes about what I had tried so far. At the top was written, "How to Play with a Player." Ever since Rory had moved in, I hadn't been able to write. Until now. I had a feeling my editor was going to love it.
I opened up my laptop and typed up my idea for the article. The only problem was that my editor was going to expect me to follow through, and I wasn't sure if I could. Rory had made it clear that the one night we had spent together was all we'd ever have. I was quickly running out of ideas on how to be sexy and fun, yet unattached. All I wanted was for him to ask me out for a romantic dinner and sweep me off my feet.
I hesitated when I finished writing my pitch. The main point of the article would be about how dating was turning into meaningless hookups. And how I thought that maybe that could change, and my attempts to figure out how. I needed to believe that it could change. But Rory being a part of my story, even if he wasn't the focus, was a problem. It wouldn't really be about him, though. And I'd use a different name. I just wanted to see if it was possible to turn a one night stand into more. Because it should be more. Maybe this is a bad idea.
The sound of the front door opening pulled me away from the computer. Part of the reason I had fallen asleep while writing was because I had been waiting for Rory to get home. He was only just coming home now. Which meant he had slept over at the blonde girl's place. Gross. I sighed and sent over the email. A go-ahead and a deadline would surely motivate me. And maybe getting published would make me feel better about everything.
My cell phone started to ring. I looked down at the display and saw that my editor was calling. That was fast. "Hi, Judy," I said.
"Love, love, love the idea."
"Great. I have a ton of notes about different things I can try."
"What's the ultimate goal of the piece?"
To make him fall in love with me. "To get him to change his ways. To prove that women can change this new norm. One