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She swallows hard, hurt overtaking her face. “You don’t at least want to give a date a try?”
Go out on a date with her as a friend? What’s the point? “You go on dates with someone you like. Romantically. Emotionally. Someone you want a future with. Not with someone who doesn’t feel the same way.” She made it clear we’re not on the same page.
Her nostrils flare, eyes filling with tears, and she looks down, hiding her face. “So that’s it?”
I shrug and cross my arms over my chest, willing myself not to comfort her. What does she want me to say? This was her decision. “I guess.”
“I’m sorry I misread things between us,” she whispers, wiping at her eyes. “Was it only sexual for you?”
What? “No, of course not.” I wanted everything with her.
“So, sex and friendship, but no romantic feelings? Why’d you ask me on that date, then?”
What the hell is she talking about?
The announcer for Ethan’s fight comes over the loudspeaker, letting the crowd know that the Hudson versus Vasiliev match is in five minutes in ring two. It jolts me out of this nonsensical argument we’re having, and I step back, ready to leave. “I have to go. Ethan needs me.”
She reaches out, her fingertips chilly against my forearm. “Can we please talk about this more later? I feel like I’m losing you.”
A scoffing sound escapes me unintentionally. “What did you think was going to happen when I told you I loved you and you basically said you didn’t care?”
Her mouth opens and closes, eyes wide, but I don’t have time for these weird games she’s been playing. I move past her toward the ring, Ethan already by the side giving one last kiss to Lexie.
“Enough of that,” I tell him, holding the ropes open for him to slip through.
“Sorry Mister Boss Man,” Lexie drawls, stepping back. “Good luck, Snookums,” she murmurs to her boyfriend.
Ethan grins, apparently liking that nickname. Whatever floats their boat, I guess.
“You work it out with Tessa?” Lexie asks me. “She’s really torn up about you.”
Why is every girl I know asking me about her? Including Tessa herself? “What, she’s mad that she only wants to be friends and I don’t?”
She gives me a quizzical look. “You meanyouonly want to be friends andshedoesn’t.”
My heart stops for a moment before it resumes beating. “What are you talking about?”
“She told me all about it on the car ride over. Two hours is alongtime to be driving with someone who has a lot to get off their chest.”
“She told you what?”
“That she was all ready for your date and then you changed your mind.”
What? Something in my brain’s not connecting. “No,shedid.”
“Maybe we could continue this after the fight?” Ethan asks. “As riveting as thehe said, she saidshtick is, we need to get going.”
Shit. He’s right.
I search through the stands, but I don’t see Tessa. Is this why our conversation earlier was so confusing?
My head’s not in the game as I slip through the ropes behind Ethan, still parsing through Lexie’s words. Tessa thinks I’m the one who only wants to be friends? I’m the one who changed my mind about the date? How could she think that? She literally said she only wants to be friends.
I reach in my pocket for my phone, then remember it’s in my bag in the locker room. It’s probably for the best that I can’t check her texts, anyway. I’m supposed to be working.
I size Ethan’s opponent up, his shadowboxing in the corner clearly designed to intimidate more than actually warm him up. Glancing over at Ethan, it seems to be effective, but he hasn’t been in as many fights as me to tell the difference.
“He’s all show,” I whisper, putting his mouthguard in for him. “Take a deep breath and get all your nerves out. You know what to do and how to beat him. You’ve got this.”
