God, was I past the point of no return?
“Oh no, I meant I saw him with the kids last weekend.”
“Oh, yeah. I guess kids are cuter than turtles,” Brooker mumbled.
“Is that what this is about? You’re worried I think Kean’s an asshole?”
“I mean, he is, there’s no doubt about that. I just wanted to make sure you knew he wasn’t acompleteasshole.”
“Well, rest assured,” Kodi said in a condescending tone as she patted Brooker’s shoulder. “I know he’s capable of kindness.”
For some reason, probably a pathetic one, I was relieved to hear her say that.
“Did you tell him I want the other job more than being your PA?” Kodi asked, pushing her weight against me, so close that I could feel her breath on my ear.
“No,” I said honestly.
“What was that?” Brooker cut in, leaning over Kodi to hear what we were saying. Kodi rolled her eyes, smiling, and pulled back to sit up straight.
“I was asking why you’re trying to sell me on him. Is this a poor wingman attempt?” Kodi joked and Brooker went rigid.
“What? No way,” he said, stumbling over the words with a forced laugh. Kodi snorted, then pressed her face into my arm to stifle her laughter.
I didn’t know how to respond. Was it really that funny that Brooker would try to be my wingman? Or was it funny that he was trying to wingman me toher?
“Is this your new way of annoying Kean?” Kodi asked through giggles, lifting her head to look at Brooker. “Because that’s a new level of annoyance. He might toss you out of the club.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because if I got the wrong idea, we’d both be in a world of trouble.”
“What if it’s not the wrong idea?” I asked, not thinking much of it until I heard Brooker whisper, “Oh shit.”
“Then …” She licked her lips, eyes going out of focus as she thought. Then she suddenly reached for her drink and took a long swig. “Then I’d ask if y’all pregamed in your cab.”
“Does that sound like me?”
Kodi raised an eyebrow at me and set her drink down. “No. It doesn’t. But neither does getting Brooker to act as your wingman.”
She turned to face me, folding her legs crisscrossed.
“I didn’t ask Brooker to do that.” I huffed, looking at Brooker over her shoulder. He gave me a cringey smile before slipping away. “In fact, I specifically asked him to leave it alone.”
“Leave what alone?” she asked quickly, reaching out to grab her drink again, taking a small sip this time. I shrugged and she immediately said, “Uh-huh. You initiated this. You gotta give me more than a shrug.”
I fought the impulse to shrug and instead said the first thing that came to mind that was true but not a full confession. “I want to get to know you better. That’s it.”
“Oh.” Her body relaxed. “Well, what do you wanna know?”
Oh, this was my worst fucking nightmare. I’ve somehow created a situation where I could get nearly everything I wanted if I just used my worst skill and least favorite thing to do,talking.
“Um …” I chewed my tongue, at a loss. “What’s your favorite color?”
“Come on, Kean,” she said with a little laugh, sliding one foot out from under her to kick me. “You can do better than that.”
The sad thing was, I really couldn’t.
“Okay, Mister Socially Awkward.” She patted my arm before turning to sit properly, looking at the few guys who stuck around. She waved them over and said, “All right, folks, let’s play a game.”
