“You and me both.” He wiped his forehead with his arm before taking another sip of water. “I can’t believe it’s already four in the afternoon.”
I sat up. “What? It’s already four? Shit, I gotta go,” I said as I stood.
“What happened to never being able to walk again?” he joked.
“That was before I realized what time it was. I gotta get home and shower before going out.”
“Going out?” Shawn asked as he tossed his towels into his duffel bag. “Who’s the chick of the moment?”
“She’s not achick,” I spat out. I didn’t know why hearing Shawn call Karla a chick rubbed me the wrong way. It felt demeaning to everything she’d been. She wasn’t just a chick. She was... well... her. She was kind and beautiful and funny and strong. She was intelligent and had a smile that—stop thinking about her, Ash, for fuck’s sake.
I shook my head and felt stupid for getting defensive and snappy toward my friend. I cleared my throat to try to play off my overreaction. I softened my tone. “I’m just hanging out with an old friend.”
“An old friend?” Chase asked with an arched eyebrow. “An old friend who happens to own a bookstore and happens to be named Karla?”
I gave him a look and smacked my sweaty towel in his direction. “Don’t think I’m not going to give you shit for giving her my number.”
Chase had a smirk on his face. “But she texted?”
I nodded. “She texted.”
Chase hopped up from his sitting position, turned toward Luke, and shook his cousin’s shoulders. “She texted! She texted!”
“She texted! She texted!” Luke echoed, shaking Chase back.
“Yeah!” the other guys cheered. I rolled my eyes at their excitement while trying to downplay my own. But the truth was that I was excited. It bothered me that I was excited. I hadn’t felt excitement in years.
I stood from the ground as I rolled my eyes. “Like I said, I have to get back home and shower.”
“Yeah, you can’t show up to your girlfriend’s place smelling like shit,” Adrian chimed in.
“She’s not my girlfriend.”
Adrian arched an eyebrow. “Is she a girl?”
“Yes.”
“Who used to be a friend?”
“Uh-huh.”
He patted my shoulder. “So one might say a girlfriend.”
The other guys chuckled as they gathered their things to leave. I wasn’t going to entertain Adrian’s comments. It would only add fuel to the fire, and my nerves were already too high about hanging out with Karla for me to allow the guys to get in my head, too.
I agreed to play ball with the guys that afternoon because my nerves were all over the place, and I couldn’t for the life of me stop myself from thinking about Karla. Truthfully, she hadn’t stopped crossing my mind since I ran into her in that bookshop.
Karla said she was going to handle dinner, and I agreed to bring the drinks and dessert.
I was embarrassed by how long I stood in the grocery store after work last night staring at desserts and wine. It took me asolid thirty minutes to pick out the items after Googling which would’ve been the best pairing to bring.
The dessert and drink pairing?
Lemon bars with a French 75.
Have I ever made a homemade French 75 cocktail before? No. Did I test out making the drink last night a few times over? Absolutely.
Now that the weather in Chicago was getting to that sweet spot, the refreshing dessert and drink sounded like a good option. At least that was what SaraBakesALot said on her blog. “A refreshing pairing for every summer lover’s dream.”
