Page 92 of Make Me Laugh

“Not because what we did wasn’t good…” She’s so uncomfortable right now. I love it.

Big, bad Josette Daniels getting worked up talking about sex.

I lean forward, urging her on by widening my eyes.

I’m deserving of her eye roll, but I still crack a smile at it.

“I don’t think either of us can deny the…” She stops, searching for the right word.

“Chemistry,” I offer.

“Attraction,” Joey counters. She closes her computer and folds her hands on top. “We can’t deny there’s some intense sexual tension between the two of us, but I–I…” Joey struggles with how to let me down easy.

I guess I can help her out. “West Parker gets Hex, but I don’t get Joey. I get it.” I hate it. I hate it so much.

My fucking body craves her. When she’s near, it feels like there’s a magnet under my skin begging me to be close. I have more fun when she’s around. I’m more myself again when she’s around…

Not the comedian.

The guy before the accident. The guy before⁠—

“It’s not you, West.” Joey interrupts my thoughts.

I give her a smile. I’m not sure what it looks like or what it’s for, but I can tell she doesn’t believe it. “Of course not. Who wouldn’t want to be with West Parker?” I don’t mean for the question to come across as sarcastic as it does.

West Parker isn’t real. He’s a character I became to cope with everything I’d lost.

Before Joey can say anything else, I tell her what I’ve been thinking all week. “I can’t turn off what I’m feeling, but I can respect that you don’t want the same thing.” What do I want, though?

Have I even thought about it?

Do I want to be in a relationship right now?

What would that do to my career?

I don’t know how to answer any of the questions flooding me at once. Maybe it’s good we’re pumping the brakes a bit…

I fiddle with the ring on my pointer finger. “I’ve really missed my friend Joey this week.”

It doesn’t matter that we’ve barely known each other for a month. Neither of us can argue how quickly we’ve fallen into an easy friendship. If giving up on anything more is what I have to do to keep Joey in my life, I’ll do it.

I’ll be ready to finger fuck her to another orgasm whenever she asks though…

“We do have fun together, don’t we?” she asks, faking an annoyed tone.

I sigh, nodding solemnly. “I wish it weren’t so, but you’re really cool.”

Joey cracks the first real smile she’s given me in days, and I swear it feels like a light has started to shine on the darkness my mind slips into sometimes.

“Friends?” When she asks, I want to laugh. Maybe even cry.

How is it my luck that the very first time I’ve ever felt something for someone, it’d be for a woman who’s so afraid to be hurt, she won’t let anyone in to show her what it’s like to be loved?

I give her a lopsided smile. It’s all I can muster. “Best friends?” I add.

My smile turns more real by the second when Joey grimaces. “Frankie would make you battle to the death for that title.”

We settle into a comfortable silence while Joey works, and I fuck around on my phone. I get up from the couch to grab another beer, bringing Joey’s bottle of Pinot Noir back with me. She thanks me with a small smile when I top her glass off without asking.