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"Yeah, we met at a Christmas party that our companies threw a few years ago. It was at that dingy bowling alley a few miles inland, and both of our companies had their party at the same time," Zach answered her, a grin on his stupidly handsome face.
"It's been too long, man. We should get a beer sometime," Andrew suggested, patting Zach on the shoulder as he walked to the dining table and set down the case of sodas.
"Absolutely!"
"I didn't know you were seeing Belle," Andrew said, and I watched as Belle took in the whole interaction. She seemed happy.
"Well, I didn't know you even knew her. Rude of you for not introducing me to her ages ago." Zach walked over to Belle and slung an arm around her shoulders as if they'd been dating for years, not a week. It made my blood boil.
"Belle! I didn't know you were seeing anyone!" Tiff chimed in, walking over to both of them and holding her hand out to Zach. He took it politely, shaking it.
"It's pretty new, but he feeds me macarons from my sister's bakery." Belle giggled, looking up at Zach.
"That's…nice." Tiffany took a step back, her shoulders stiff. "I'm glad you're finally seeing someone. I was starting to think that you were going to stay single forever!"
Even I cringed at that comment. Mandy, who was sitting on the couch and watching the entire interaction, let her mouth hang open in shock at the comment.
I was sure that Tiffany didn't mean anything by it, but that she was just trying to tease Belle to fit into the group. But the girls in our group didn't rag on each other like that.
"This girl? There's no reason on this green earth that she could stay single forever unless she wanted to. I mean, have you seen her?" Zach said, confidently defending Belle. Jealousy coursed through my veins. Because I should have been the one defending my best friend. Not some schmuck who wooed her with macarons and his perfectly white smile.
Belle lightly slapped a hand against Zach's well-defined chest, looking up at him like he hung the moon. Yeah, I got that. He literally just swooped in like a perfect gentleman when someone else said something offensive. "You're too sweet."
"It's true. Do I need to find you a mirror to look in to remind you of how stunning you are?" Zach asked, and then he literally booped her nose. It was cute and annoying as heck.
"You two are literally adorable, but if you do that again I'm going to be sick. So please, keep the ridiculously cute comments and actions to yourselves, or I'll be forced to eat my weight in salt to balance the sweetness overload," Leslie commented, pushing the two lovebirds aside. I related to her sentiment, except I wanted to punch Zach in the face. Why? Because he was being too sweet to Belle. Too good. Too perfect.
And I realized that I hated him for that.
For reasons, I couldn't admit to myself.
Belle gave a very fake gasp, holding a hand to her chest. "That was us being too sweet? You wouldn't want to hear the conversations we have over pastries, then." She winked, and I refrained from gagging.
"Are you two done? Because this is game night, not barf night." Cooper pushed his way to the dining table, pulling out Ticket to Ride from the small game cabinet behind it. He held up the box, earning approval from everyone.
"Don't worry, I'll teach you how to play. We have to play in teams anyway since there are so many of us now." Belle grabbed Zach's hand and pulled him into a seat at the table, a quick glance in my direction. Tiffany joined me at my side, pulling on my hand to get me to join everyone as they gathered around the table. But my feet were glued to the ground momentarily, as I considered how appropriate it would be to chop Zach's perfectly sandy hair from his head. Maybe knock him down a peg or two. Or maybe I could just punch him?
"Come on," Tiffany said, knocking me out of the pleasant daydream. I had no reason to feel this animosity toward Zach, but I couldn't help it. The feeling was natural at this point, and I was just mad.
Mad that she started dating Zach. Mad that I didn't set up the date. That she deviated from the game.
And I knew that was the most hypocritical thing ever because I literally broke out of the dating game first. But still, I could stew in my hypocritical frustration with Belle.
Tiffany and I sat down across the table from Zach and Belle, the only last two seats. With all of the seats filled, Cooper started laying out the colored train pieces and game cards. Leslie jumped up from the table and ran into the kitchen, emerging with a small plate of snacks from the tray I'd left in there. Not that the tray would fit on the table during this game.
Cooper explained the rules to the two guests tonight, and then we began playing.
And that was a crazy experience. It made me wish I had the flu so I didn't have to experience this at all.
First of all, everyone loved Zach. He was easy-going and conversational with everyone. Questioning the table about their favorite foods, favorite roller coasters, and whether or not the final Avengers movie ruined the Marvel franchise. He made the girls laugh multiple times, including Tiffany. Overall, he fit into the group easily.
Me? I could do without him. I would have preferred if he just left mid-game rather than make jokes and charm everyone. I kept quiet, barely responding to anyone about the game or anything else.
"What about that new movie coming out next month? The one about the–" Belle started.
"Oh! Yeah! There's that new romcom coming out next month! Baby, we should go see it together!" Tiffany said, turning to me and grinning.
"Sure," I responded, having no idea what movie the girls were talking about.
