“All right.” I nodded. “Well, thank you for stopping by and for doing all this.”
“I’m not leaving,” she said, sounding offended.
“I wasn’t kicking you out. I just figured you’d want to get home.”
“Well, you figured wrong,” she said, the corners of her lips turning up the slightest bit.
“I’ll be fine for practice on Tuesday. You don’t need to worry about it.” I finished the second piece of toast.
“I’m not here as your trainer,” she said, shaking her head as if the idea were appalling.
“I didn’t mean to offend you,” I said, scrubbing a hand down my face. I was exhausted. “I know how important your job is to you, that’s all I meant. I’ll be back on track in a day.”
“My job is important to me, but as much as I’ve fought you on it, I consider you a friend.” Her dark brown gaze searched mine. “I’m here as a friend, not a trainer.”
“Afriend-friend, or a professional friend?” I teased.
“A friend-friend.” She arched a brow and sighed.
“Okay,” I said, as I leaned back against the couch, my hand brushing against hers as she sat beside me. “How was Sunday dinner?”
“It was very entertaining,” she chuckled. “Bridger made several digs at Emilia. I heard all about Rafe’s toilet. And your mother recited the lyrics to her favorite song by Jelly Roll, per Lulu’s insistence.”
“‘Save Me?’” I barked out a laugh. “She loves that fucking song.”
“Well, I added it to my playlist because she was so passionate about the lyrics.”
“Yeah. She’s the best. She wanted to come over earlier, but I didn’t want to get her sick. But here you are, huh?”
“Here I am.”
“Such a good friend-friend. Nothing professional about this friendship,” I said teasingly.
“I think so. Not that you can say the same, seeing as you didn’t even respond to my texts earlier.”
“I haven’t been on my phone today,” I said.
“Maybe you got sick at the bar last night with Sasha and Laney.” She made no attempt to hide her irritation.
“Ahhh… that’s what you think, huh?” I rubbed my temples, and I saw the concern in her gaze just as she insisted I lie backdown, and she slipped down on the floor, sitting right in front of me.
“You seemed excited to go, and you were acting kind of weird to me, that’s all,” she said.
Was she kidding me right now?
“You sound a little jealous, Weeze.”
“Jealous? No. I am so not jealous. Why would I be jealous? We’re friends. But you did leave the ice rink with two hot women, and then you didn’t answer my text. And you were acting a little distant, so I thought you were avoiding me when you weren’t at Sunday dinner,” she said, her arms flailing around. But she was showing me a vulnerable side that she rarely shared. “But then when I heard you were sick, I didn’t care if you were avoiding me. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
I scrubbed a hand over the back of my neck and groaned. I hated that she felt that way, but I was glad that she cared enough to be bothered by it. How fucked up is that?
“I really am sick.”
“I can obviously see that. So did you have fun with Sasha and Laney?”
She was asking again.
Whether she wanted to admit it or not, she was clearly jealous.
