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“I know.” She reached over to tear a paper towel from the roll and dabbed at her cheeks. “But you’re my best friend in the whole wide world, and I want you to have what I’ve found with Prentice.”
“Ugh, this again?” I should’ve known she was going to take advantage of my concern for her to try to pressure me into going on the blind date she mentioned at dinner last night.
Naomi wagged her finger at me. “You already told me that I could set you up with Jordan. It’s too late to back out now.”
I glanced at the clock on the stove. “I said that what…a grand total of twelve hours ago? How could it already be too late for me to change my mind?”
She beamed a triumphant smile at me. “Because I already called him last night, and he’s one of the teammates Prentice is working out with this morning.”
Stomping over to the coffee machine, I muttered, “I need caffeine to deal with you this morning.”
“C’mon, Ember. I mean it…you really can’t leave Jordan hanging. Some lucky girl will snap him right up if you do.”
“I’m sure you’re right,” I conceded, thinking about the picture of him that she’d shown me on her phone last night. The way she was talking him up had made Prentice even more growly. To the point where I couldn’t help but wonder if I should be worried for Jordan’s safety since they were working out together this morning. Hopefully, Prentice wasn’t spotting him during bench presses or anything. The poor guy would end up choked by a weight lift bar or something. “But I’m just not sure that he’s the one for me.”
“That’s impossible. He’s hot, nice, and a professional football player. What more do you want?” she asked, bending over to pull a sheet of freshly baked biscuits out of the oven.
“Really great chemistry,” I grumbled, thinking about Nixon.
“You’ll never know if you’re attracted to Jordan unless you go out with him,” she argued.
“I guess you’re right, but—”
She glared at me over her shoulder. “Is this the part where you come up with some lame excuse for why you second-guessed your decision to let me fix you up with him?”
It wasn’t as though I could tell her that the only reason I had reluctantly agreed to a blind date was because the only guy I had ever been interested in didn’t want me. Naomi would want to know who he was…and I couldn’t tell her that I’d been fantasizing about her brother ever since he helped move me into my dorm. She’d either be upset because he was off-limits since they were related, or even worse, she would decide that it would be perfect if we got together. Then she’d try playing matchmaker, and I’d have to endure the embarrassment of Nixon telling my best friend that I’m the last woman he’d ever consider dating.
Naomi was my person. She was the first student I met during my first day of senior year at a new school, and we clicked right away. She totally got me. I wanted her to be a part of my life forever. No way could I let my unrequited feelings for her brother mess up our friendship.
“You’re really not going to let me get out of this, are you?”
“Nope.” She let the P on the end pop as she shook her head, her lips curving into a smug grin as she realized I was going to cave. “You’re going to sit down with me and fill your belly with biscuits and gravy while Prentice makes the arrangements with Jordan. Since I know you don’t have any set plans this week, I told him to set everything up for tonight.”
“Tonight?” I squeaked, my eyes widening.
“Mm-hmm.” She ladled sausage gravy over biscuits before carrying the plates over to the table. “I didn’t want you to have any time to change your mind. And it’s a good thing, considering you’re already second-guessing your date with him. If I gave you any more time to think about it, you’d probably jump on a plane to go home just to get away from him. And me.”
I took a big sip of my coffee, hoping it would give me the energy to deal with my best friend and what she had planned for me tonight. “I don’t think I have anything I can even wear on a date. I can’t even remember the last time I went out with a guy.”
“Neither can I.” Her head tilted to the side as she cut her meal into bite-sized pieces. “I think the only time I’ve ever seen you with a boy was when we went on group outings that definitely didn’t count as dates.”
“Yeah, going to a movie with a bunch of us and having one of our friend’s boyfriends bring his friends doesn’t make it a date in any way, shape, or form.” Realizing how long it had been since I’d been interested in anyone other than Nixon, my nose wrinkled. “Oh, my gosh. How is it possible that the last time I kissed a boy, I was in middle school, and it was an innocent peck on the lips?”
Before shoving a forkful of food into her mouth, she let out a low whistle and murmured, “Girl, you really need to get out more.”
“I guess you’re right.” My shoulders slumped as I dug into the biscuits and gravy she’d served me. Although it was one of my favorite dishes, the food tasted like saw dust. I had to force myself to choke it down while Naomi chatted about the different outfits I could put together with the clothes already in my closet. When she decided we needed to go shopping for a sexy dress that would bring Jordan to his knees, I’d only made it halfway through my meal and decided I’d had enough. I was too nervous to eat—I just wished it was because I was excited about the date instead of resigned to taking the first step in getting over Nixon.
2
NIXON
“Damn, Nixon,” Prentice said with a low whistle. “You gearing up for a fight with Hulk or something?”
I tossed him an irritated frown as I jumped to my feet after doing fifty up-downs and two hundred squats. Sweat was pouring off my body because I’d been pushing myself harder than usual. I grabbed a towel and wiped my forehead and around to the back of my neck, already contemplating what to do next to keep my mind occupied.
“Just felt like a hard workout today,” I grumbled as I snatched a jump rope from a peg on the wall. That was mostly true. The reality was that I was on edge about my sister fixing Ember up on a date with one of my teammates. And after spending the previous evening with her, I needed to work off all the repressed sexual energy.
I certainly wasn’t going to tell Prentice that.
