Twisted Deal | A not-so cliche fake dating romance

Chapter Fourteen

Bash

So, I don't know how Jen did it, but two out of the three girls had texted me back within an hour of me sending that text. In the meantime, Jen and I had been walking around the park, making idle conversation. When my phone had buzzed in my pocket with the first message, I had pulled it out and then shown it to Jen.

"Hey. My friends and I are going to be heading back to the club tonight if you are okay with meeting there with me. It would be nice to get to know you better as well." Jen reads off, excitement entering her eyes at every word she reads. "Bash, this is great!"

"Is it?" I ask, and when I go to reread the text to myself, another message pops up onto the screen. I show it to Jen, who is grinning at me proudly. "She seems to want to talk to you," she gathers after reading the text. "Okay, send her a text to keep her interested, and let's go back to the club for you to meet up with the first girl now."

"Her name is Amanda," I supply, remembering the girl's name, and Jen nods. "You can hang out with Amanda in more of a friendly environment."

"Then it's not technically a date?" I ask, and Jen agrees. "And that's good, right? To be able to hang out with a girl and not call it a date. You aren't ready for that anyway."

I nod, making sense of her words. then I type out a text before showing it to Jen. "Sure, you can find me there," Jen reads off before sliding at me approvingly. So, we had waited for the sun to go down before we had headed to the same club as earlier. For the first hour, Amanda hadn't shown up. I kept looking for her until it was clear to me that she was running late. Or maybe most people just come out to clubs later, which would make sense. Just as I'm losing hope and Jen heads out back to use the bathroom, I feel a hand on my arm.

"Bash?" the woman with brunette hair and familiar brown eyes asks. I instantly make out her face and grin as I turn over to her companion. "Amanda," I greet with a smile. "Hi."

"Hey," she says, and I appreciate the fact that she was smiling at me as well. We share a look for a moment, then I ask, "Can I get you a drink?"

"I'm not much of a drinker," Amanda starts but then chuckles. "But I guess I could be for one night."

"Me neither," I agree, before moving toward the bar. Catching the eyes of a nearby bartender, I say, "Whatever the lady will have is on my table." Then I turn over to Amanda and gesture for her to order her drink. After getting the drinks served, I grab both of them and ask, "How about we head to a booth?"

Amanda nods, and I smile as I lead us to the booths near the windows. I also try not to notice how Amanda was touching my arm and how close she was standing to me. Setting our drinks on the table, I gesture for Amanda to take a seat. "Thanks," Amanda replies as I watch her take her seat. Taking a seat across from her, I lean forward and ask, "So how have you been?"

"You mean am I still dealing with the same problems I was almost having a breakdown about last week?" Amanda asks with a laugh, and I can't help but shrug. She ties a piece of her hair behind her ear and sighs. "I guess, but you know, it got better."

"That's good," I comment. Last week we talked about how she was close to getting fired from her new job because her boss was being discriminatory towards her and she wasn't able to handle herself professionally. I had told her maybe she should just quit the job if the boss was being disrespectful, but she told me it wasn't that easy. So we had agreed on her having to fix her attitude even though the jerk of a boss was at fault.

"And you?" Amanda asks. "Did you find a job here now that the season is over?"

"Not necessarily," I answer. "But I did start it as a volunteer at a center teaching kids how to play basketball."