Sparks - Wendy Higgins Page 0,11
by Queen?”
“That’s a great song!” But he was totally laughing! I was so aghast at the horror of it all that I began to laugh too. This was beyond ridiculous.
Shawn reached down and clicked on a red dot with a conversation bubble. It was all the guys who had liked my profile and sent messages.
“Oh, wow,” he whispered. And that about summed it up. The first guy, or rather man, was about fifty and wore a seventies shirt opened wide enough to see a rug of chest hair.
A prompt on the screen told me to swipe left if uninterested and right if I wanted to match. I swiped left, relieved to see him disappear. The next guy was even worse, the angle of his selfie taken from below. It was blurry, but he looked as if he was drunk and hadn’t showered for days.
I made an incoherent sound of disgust and swiped left again.
The third guy was twenty-five and looked sharp in a suit without being douchy.
“I notice you’re not saying ew about him,” Shawn commented.
“You know what?” I clicked off the app, my cheeks heating. “I’ve got a phone call to make.”
He grinned and sat back, putting his ankle on his knee, clearly enjoying the show. I dialed Holls.
“Hey!” she said. “Are you at a fucking club or something? Isn’t it snowing there?”
“Hotel party with a bunch of Marines,” I told her.
“Shut up. You lucky bish!”
“Hey, Holls?”
“Like, real Marines? Wait, are they playing Eminem? Why don’t I get jobs like that?”
“Holls.”
“What?”
“What do you mean, what?” I moved to the edge of my seat. “Fat Bottomed Girls? Really?”
She was silent for a beat, and then cackled like a witch and called to the other girls. “She finally saw it!” To me, she asked, “How many likes do you have?”
“Y’all know I don’t want to be on those gross apps. Why would you do that? I’m going to delete it!”
“Listen here, little boo.” My roommate Rhea’s voice piped in and I could picture her leaning down into the phone as Holly held it. “You will not delete it. You hear me? Not until you scroll through every single man and find a dick to sit on.”
“Oh, my gosh,” I whispered as I pinched my forehead. “We’ll talk about this when I get back. You’re all dead to me.”
“We love you too!” All of the girls shouted their love for me in the background and I rolled my eyes.
“Good-bye.” I hung up and frowned at Shawn’s handsome, smiling face before finishing my drink.
“Seems like they care about you,” he said. “You’ll laugh about it someday.”
I shook my head, although my initial horror was wearing off, leaving me with just a warm buzz and shocked amusement. Why was this man so interested? He’d asked me so many questions, digging deep, and I’d spilled every detail about myself. I would have probably told him anything. Would he do the same?
“You said you’ve been engaged a couple years,” I murmured. “Why haven’t you gotten married yet?”
He pressed his nice lips together and his mouth pulled to the side. “It’s kind of a long story.”
I fanned out my hands. “We’ve got nowhere to go, friend.”
A dry, nervous-sounding laugh escaped him. “You don’t want to rush upstairs and look through all those prospects?” He pointed to my phone.
Actually, after the picture of the business guy it was kind of tempting, but I shook my head. “Nope, I’m good right here.” I was just too curious about him.
“All right then.” He gave a nod. “But I think I’ll need another drink.”
“Me, too.”
Go to bed, my intuition shouted as he stood to get more drinks.
Shut up, I responded. It was just a conversation. I had no interest in men who were taken, but the thought of leaving his company without at least hearing his story made me feel anxious. Because I knew after tonight, I’d never talk to Captain Shawn Fowler again.
Before he started, he drank three quarters of his drink in one long swallow.
“Pretty sure vodka tonics are not for chugging,” I remarked.
He let out a coughing laugh and sat back. “Sure they are.” He made eye-contact with Jerome and next thing I knew his drink was being refilled again. I raised an eyebrow. Someone really needed liquid courage. Interesting.
“All right,” he said.
“All right.” I felt weirdly nervous as I sipped my drink and watched him.
“Okay, so.” He ran his palms down the lean muscular thighs of his jeans. “I met Natalie at a frat party my last