Hardin Scott has been madly in love with Tessa Young since the moment he first laid eyes on her, but there's no way she could ever see him as anything more than a friend. After all, he's a bad boy with a promiscuous past and she's a sweet and innoce...
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I arrive at Blind Bob's fifteen minutes late. When I walk in, Tessa immediately gets up from the booth and walks over to me. I know that look.
"You're late," she says. She looks angry. Angry, but still so beautiful.
"Sorry." I shrug. I left later than I should have because I was trying to think of an excuse to get out of this whole situation I got myself into.
"Come on. Emma is looking forward to meeting you. Please, please be on your best behaviour."
I give her the biggest fake smile and we walk over to the booth.
"Emma, this is Hardin."
"Hi, nice to meet you," Emma says with a smile.
"Hardin, isn't there something you'd like to say?" Tessa says while clearing her throat.
"Oh, yeah, nice to meet you, too," I say while looking down at my feet.
"Well, okay, let's order some food," Zed says while signalling to the waitress.
I take my seat next to Emma and mentally start counting down the minutes until this is over.
Once everyone has their food, Tessa starts the conversation. She prompts Emma to tell me about herself, her classes, her job and everything else I could care less about. I nod along, not really paying any attention. Instead, I'm watching Tessa picking at the fries on her plate. She starts swatting at Zed's arm as he steals more than a few from her plate. I wish that was my arm she was touching. Man, I've got it bad.
"Hardin?" a small voice from beside me asks.
"Sorry, what?"
"I was asking if you'd be interested in going to a concert with me next weekend," Emma says, looking disappointed that I don't seem interested.
"Um, I think I have to work next weekend," I lie.
"Oh, okay," Emma says and looks away.
Tessa is glaring at me, but I don't care. There is no way I'm going on another fucking date next weekend.
The rest of the dinner is spent with Tessa and Emma telling us about something funny that happened in yoga class. I laugh along, even though I'm not listening. My eyes are focused on how Zed is putting his arm around Tessa and pulling her close to him. I have to remind myself that he's my friend because all I want to do is jump across the table and rip his arm off.
We finish our meal and the girls excuse themselves to go to the bathroom before we leave for the movies.
"So, Emma's pretty hot, right?" Zed asks while watching her leave the table.
"Are you into her or something?" I ask rudely.
"What? No. I just don't want you to be the third wheel anymore."
"Gee, thanks," I say as I roll my eyes.
"So, seriously, what do you think of her?"
"She's okay, I guess." She is okay. She isn't bad to look at. She is sweet, polite and we do seem to have a couple things in common from what I did actually hear. The problem is she isn't Tessa.
"Try to act a little more into her at the movies, okay? I don't want you going home alone tonight." He winks.
I'm about to reach across the table and choke him just to get him to shut up when the girls return.
"Okay, boys, are we ready to go? The movie starts at 8, so we better hurry," Tessa says.
We head off to the movies and I'm thankful half the night is over.
