AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“The rack?”
“Yeah,” I breathed heavily. “It’s this magical place where the weights go after you leave them on the floor for a while.”
The young girl who couldn’t be much older than a teenager looked back at me, totally confused.
“They teleport there automatically now,” I went on. “Before that it happened by osmosis. Or maybe levitation. So yeah, just dump those things right back at my feet. It’s not as if—“
Ariana, STOP!
My inner voice was stern in its admonishment, letting me know I was doing ‘it’ again.
Shit.
I glanced back at the girl with the ponytail. Her expression of confusion had turned into embarrassment mixed with trepidation. She wasn’t responsible for putting the weights there to begin with. She was only returning them.
“Sorry, forget everything I just said,” I apologized. “I’m Ariana. I’m a big asshole.”
I set down the curl bar and extended my hand. To my surprise, she shook it.
“Claire.”
“Nice to meet you, Claire.”
Her smile returned. It was a pretty smile.
“Claire, mind if I ask your opinion on a hypothetical situation?”
I watched as she pulled a water bottle from her hip and deftly screwed the cap off. Simultaneously, she flipped her ponytail.
“Shoot.”
“Would you agree to go out on practice dates with a guy friend of yours, just so you can polish your dating technique?”
Claire took a long sip of water and shrugged. “Depends on the friend.”
“What if it were three friends?”
She arched a blonde eyebrow. “Friends with benefits?”
I hesitated. “Does it matter?”
“Yeah. Totally.”
I bit my lip. She saw my struggle.
“Wait, what do these guy friends look like?” Claire asked. “Are they hot?”
I took in a deep stalling breath, then let out a long sigh of admission. “Yes. Extremely hot.”
“So you’re attracted to them?”
“No, no, of course not,” I countered immediately. “I mean… not really.”
Claire chuckled. Her laughter was as cute as her smile.
“Not really,” she repeated glibly.
“Not in that way, no,” I explained further. “It’s not like I can be, anyway. Attracted to them, that is. I’ve known all three of these guys forever. I love them as friends, but that’s all we ever can be.”
