Not Now (Sequel to Man Overboard) *On Hold*

6. And I Don't Care, He Is Such A Dick

"I don't know about this Zachary fellow," Mark said suspiciously, narrowing his eyes as he conferred with Anne. Anne just rolled her eyes at her older brother.

"He seems like a good guy," Anne reassured as she looked at me. "He must be creative from what you've told us. Is he cute?"

This time Mark rolled his eyes. "He must be if the two of them were flirting during their entire meeting."

"We were not flirting," I immediately started protesting. "We were just going over his book." I took a sip of my coffee and rested my elbows on Anne's and my kitchen table.

"Of course," Mark agreed with a smirk. "And sealing the deal." He wiggled his eyebrows at me suggestively. I blushed a bright red. I had technically sealed a deal with Zach, but not the one Mark was referring to. I knew he was joking because "sealing the deal" on a first date was not like me at all. Not that I had dated many people, but I had slept with even less.

Anne wrinkled her nose. "That is so gross." She shook her head at Mark before spearing a ball of cantaloupe with her fork.

"You're telling me!" he exclaimed through a mouthful of food. Mark had brought over scones from his favorite bakery, since he was the only one of us who could actually afford that kind of stuff on a regular basis. One of the perks of being rich and famous: treating your family to baked goods.

Mark had come over for coffee at our place in order to catch up with us. (I think he really just wanted our free coffee. He had to draw the financial line somewhere. "Why would I pay five bucks for a cup of coffee, Willow, when it all tastes the same once I add a shit-ton of milk and sugar?") I had taken the opportunity to tell my best friends about the meeting with Zach, although Anne already knew that Zach was willing to work with me.

"I had to hear about it through Tom's grandpa," Mark continued. "My own friend wouldn't tell me that she was dating some guy."

Anne furrowed her eyebrows, since I had yet to tell them about Pappy showing up. I hadn't really planned to tell them at all. What did it matter if Tom's grandfather saw me at a business meeting?

"Wait," Anne spoke confusedly, "why were you talking to Tom's grandfather about Willow?"

Mark scooted his kitchen chair in closer to the table as he started eyeing up another scone, blueberry this time. "He didn't tell me about Willow. Well, not really," Mark corrected. Now I was just as confused as Anne.

Mark took the scone out of the bakery box and bit into it. He looked up to find both Anne and me staring at him, waiting for an explanation. Mark waved his hand in a circular motion as he started chewing faster. Once he swallowed he said, "Tom asked me about it."

Anne and I immediately shot a look at each other. Tom?

"Why?" Anne asked the question for me.

Mark shrugged as he took another bite of the pastry. "I guess Pappy ran into Willow and Zachary and thought they were on a date so he told Tom about it. Then Tom came to me and was like, 'Is Willow dating someoneeee?' And I was like, 'Why don't you ask her now that you're friends againnn?' But really I was trying to cover my ass because you had never told me about dating someone new, and I didn't want him to know that I didn't know."

Mark looked at us blankly as if that explained everything.

I glanced at Anne before responding. "We're not...dating though," I protested.