I swallow my fears and nod. “I’d like that. But,” I say, remembering what Lex said about giving him time to fall for me so he won’t care when the curse pops up, “I think we should take it a bit more slowly this time. We really rushed into things when we first met, and I’d like to get to know you better.”
Olsen’s head tilts ever so slightly, his handsome smile gracing his features as he nods. “I like that idea.” Then, he takes my hand in his and raises it to his lips where he brushes a kiss across my knuckles. A slight tingle emanates from his point of contact, but I can’t stop thinking about someone else getting a kiss today, and if they’re kissing more now.
“Call me,” I say, pulling my hand from Olsen’s grasp and exiting onto the sidewalk.
After picking Winston up from Pat, changing into my comfy clothes, prepping a cup of Chai tea, and settling onto my couch with a comfort rom-com, I finally have time to go over all the details of the group date.
Something keeps sticking in the back of my mind, like a splinter—tiny and silly and something that shouldn’t cause me as much discomfort as it does, but is distracting to the point where I can’t take my mind off it.
Lex and Lynn. Together. More than friends. Lex spending time with someone other than me... another woman being more important to Lex than I am.
Long-buried emotions from high school rise to the surface—losing the one true friend that had been important to me and ending up all alone, like I had been my entire childhood.
It can’t happen with Lex.
But how can I go from seeing her multiple times a week, texting her all day, calling her late at night, to having someone else be her person? I suppose by finding a person of my own. By breaking the curse. By getting my own happily ever after.
Lex deserves to be happy. She deserves to have a person she can turn to, to share her life with, to cuddle at night, and to do... other things with. I should be happy for her. I am. Or, at least, I will be, once I get a hold of myself and my traitorous, jealous heart.
chapter seventeen
A Deluge of Awkwardness
“Hey! Mind if we FaceTime?” I ask, answering Lex on the first ring when she calls for our scheduled Wednesday-evening chat session three weeks later.
“I look like shit, but yes.”
I press the button, and a moment later Lex’s beautiful face lights up my screen. “Don’t come at me with ‘I look like shit’ and then proceed to look as stunning as you fucking are,” I chide. It’s been a long day, and seeing Lex is a balm to my soul, even if it’s only on my phone screen. I haven’t seen her in person since our group date at the bowling alley, and without our Tinder-fuelled bi-monthly curse-curing adventures I really miss her. Plus, she’s been busy with... someone else. So have I, I guess.
Lex exaggerates an eye roll. She’s curled up in her bed with a baggy sweatshirt, her short hair wet and combed behind her ears, no makeup at all, and still somehow she makes imperfect skin and slight shadows beneath her eyes look good. “How was your lunch date?”
I grimace. “Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to cancel our plans, but Olsen showed up to surprise me and I felt bad sending him away.”
Lex shrugs. “It’s no biggie. Took Lynn out instead.”
I try to coax the bristling hairs on the back of my neck to flatten. “Is it weird working with someone you’re dating?”
“A little. We’re in different departments, though, so our paths don’t cross too often.”
I wonder if they sneak into empty offices to make out. Or hide away in the janitor closet to feel each other up. Are they sending flirty texts during meetings, passing spicy notes, making one another blush?
“Besides, I’m not sure if ‘dating’ is the term I’d use. I’ve been seeing other people, too,” Lex says casually.
Part of me is relieved things between her and Lynn aren’t serious, but the other side is just as envious that other women are taking up Lex’s time that used to be reserved for me. “Right, you’ve been putting all your new-found dating app skills to good use.”
She smiles. “That’s right.”
“Look at you, taking the dating world by storm.”
“Well, you inspired me.”
I laugh. “You seriously need to rethink your life ifI’minspiring you.”
Lex tuts. “You’re too hard on yourself. Enough about me. How is everything going with you and Olsen? He seems happy so far. You’ve been on what, three or four dates now? He talks about you a lot, and he smiles when he does, and I know he’s not seeing anyone else. I think the plan is working.”
“Oh? Yeah, I think so, too.”
Lex eyes me. “There’s abut.”
