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"I'll come over when I get off tonight if you want me to," I said. "Just text me if you're hanging out here, and I'll stop by."
Rachel agreed to that plan even though I made no promises, and I left her apartment and went next door to my own.
JD was on my mind. He and I had become really good friends during the last month—talking on the phone or texting almost every day, and seeing each other at least several times a week outside of the restaurant. We had fun together. He stopped worrying so much about me being a single woman in the city, and once he relaxed, I was able to get to know him for who he was.
JD was as smart as a whip and industrious, but he had a funny side. His dry sense of humor fit mine perfectly, and we bantered with each other constantly. I had a similar relationship with Isaac and Claire and others at the restaurant, but my relationship with JD was different. With JD, I had hope that there would be more between us eventually. It was for that reason that I called him once I got to my apartment. He picked up on the second ring.
"Hey," he said.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
"I'm at Papa and Birdy's. We're about to go trout fishing on the lake."
"What lake?"
"Lake Washington," he said. "What are you doing? I thought you had work."
"I do. But I came home for a few minutes between shifts."
"I know we talked about that hike tomorrow," he said. "But if I catch a bunch of fish today, I'm going to take you fishing instead."
"I wouldn't mind going fishing," I said. "I don't know how to do it, but I wouldn't mind trying."
"Okay good, I'm going to see how it goes today and how the weather is, and I'll let you know."
"JD?"
"What? Is everything all right?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm good. I was just wondering how you would feel if… you know my friend, Rachel, my neighbor?"
"Yes."
"Well, she's having her… she's having her brother come into town, and she was talking about me hanging out with them when I get off work tonight, and I told them I would because it's no problem, but she was talking about her brother and me… " I trailed off.
I had called him to ask if he was okay with me hanging out with someone Rachel considered a set-up, but then I realized that I was only doing that to make him feel jealous enough to tell me not to do it.
"She was talking about her brother…" JD said reminding me what I was saying when I didn't continue right away.
"We don't know each other. Me and Tristan. So, I'm not saying I… I just wanted to make sure that you didn't care if I was hanging out with a guy tonight."
I felt so weird saying it that. It was as if I was outside of my own body.
"Hang out with a guy, how, Jordan?"
"What?"
"What are you asking me?" he said. "Are you talking about just being in the same room with your friend's brother?"
"Yeah, well, kind of, yeah, Rachel was mentioning… trying to set us up or whatever."
What was I doing?
Why was I saying this?
I got the words out, but they were rushed, and I felt like a big goober. It didn't help matters that JD was completely silent.
"JD?"
