Page 8 of The Status Situation

His eyes search mine for several moments before he leans forward and plucks my wine glass out of my hands. “Alright, clearly you’ve had enough alcohol,” he tells me, setting it down on the scuffed wooden coffee table. “If you wanted me to back off, all you had to do was ask.”

I deadpan. “No, you wouldn’t have.”

“Okay, fine, you’re right. I probably wouldn’t have. But you didn’t have to go this far either.”

I just give him a small smile.

With a sigh, he moves to sit next to me on the couch. “Alright, well, let’s see him then,” he tells me, holding out his hand for my phone.

My smile widens as I unlock my phone and quickly go back to Mark’s profile. It only takes a moment to find the picture of him in swim trunks again, and I click on it so it takes up the entire screen. I pass my phone to Darius so that he can have a look.

He whistles low, as his eyes go wide. “Goddamn, look at that body! He’s a monster.”

“In more ways than one, I’m sure,” I add suggestively.

My friend’s face becomes thoughtful as he tilts his head to the side. “Maybe I should date him.”

Pressing my lips together, I snatch my phone back. “Back off, Darius; he’s already taken. You snooze, you lose.”

My jealous-like response makes him laugh. “You know, the moment he realizes what you’ve done, he’s going to get a restraining order against you.”

I wave him off. “Oh, don’t be so dramatic. He will not.”

Leaning forward, I snatch my wine glass off the coffee table and finish it off before Darius can stop me. I doubt that this Mark guy would get a restraining order just because I clicked a button on social media, but he will probably think I’m nuts. And who knows, maybe I am. Still, it’s been a while since I’ve had this much fun.

“You know this doesn’t count, right?” Darius asks, rising to his feet and taking my wine glass. “This isn’t what I meant, so I’m not backing down. You did all this for nothing.”

My jaw drops as I watch him make his way back toward the kitchen. “Oh, come on, that’s not fair.”

His laugh reaches me a second later. “Tough.”

I scoff. “If you don’t back off, I’ll tell your next boyfriend that you still wet the bed.”

His jaw is flexing when he looks around the corner at me. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Try me. I’ll also tell them that you cry after sex.”

He gasps, and his hand goes to his chest. “You’re a monster.”

When he disappears again, I roll my eyes and look back down at my phone screen. Just for a moment, I allow myself to wonder what it would be like if I really were in a relationship with a guy like Mark. I’m not stupid; I know it would never happen. He’s gorgeous, while I look like a toad, and guys who look like him don’t go for girls who look like me. It’s a nice dream, though.

As I’m letting my mind wander, my phone dings with a social media message. My eyes go wide when I see who it’s from. Damn that wine.

Mark: Who are you? And why does it say we are in a relationship?

Shit. He wasn’t supposed to see it. I planned to change the status back before he saw what I did, but I can’t do so until morning because of some stupid regulation. I’m assuming it’s to prevent people from abusing relationship statuses, and while I understand that, it’s put me in a really tough spot now. I mean, what the hell am I supposed to say? How do I get out of this?

“You good?” Darius asks, suddenly standing above me. He has our glasses in his hands, both of them having been refilled.

I quickly lock my phone to hide the message. “What?”

He chuckles as he passes me my glass again. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Are you having second thoughts about your budding new romance already?”

“You’ve seen him; would you be having second thoughts?” I quip back.

“Hell no,” he replies just as quickly.

As I take a sip of my newly refreshed drink, my mind goes back to the message I just received. So what if Mark’s seen it? What’s the big deal? It doesn’t change anything. It helped to get Darius off my back, and I’ll change it back again tomorrow morning. No harm, no foul. So, I think I’m just going to ignore the message.