“Oh God. No wonder you made up a mysterious organization who will boil me in a vat of acid if we start dating.”
Tanner laughed. “I thought you looked adorable.”
“Right.” Adorable. Cute. He always said that about me. “Unfortunately for me, adorable was not what Mustang and Vandal were into. They seemed to be more into double-teaming the head cheerleader in the locker room. God, what I would havegiven to be in her position...”Please tell me I didn’t say that out loud.
“You wanted to be double-teamed by two dudes with weird names?”
“What? No.”
“You just said you did.” Tanner looked so amused.
“In my defense, I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”
He looked more amused than ever. “So those were your crushes? Mustang and Vandal?”
“I don’t know if I’d call them crushes. They were just really hot guys that I watched from afar.”
“Ah, so your stalkery ways started in high school.”
I tossed my napkin at him. “We’ve already determined thatyou’rethe stalker. Not me.”
“Mhm. Sure. So tell me more about these guys you stalked.” He leaned back in his chair, looking absolutely tickled.
“Mustang and Vandal were the class clowns. One time they put…” I started laughing just thinking about it. “They put a horse on the roof of the school. I still have no idea how they did it.”
“That must have been a disaster since horses can’t climb down stairs very well. #HorseFacts,” said Tanner.
Oh my God, I love you. He was just as bad at hashtags as me. I giggled. “Exactly.”
“Did you ever talk to them?”
“Nope. But I’m proud to say that I did talk to my ultimate crush, Archer Murphy.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yup,” I said with a nod. “He asked to borrow a pen. And I said yes.”
“And that was the beginning of a long, unlikely friendship?”
“Not at all. It was the only time I ever talked to him. Other than when he returned the pen. Which was exactly why I liked him so much. Sure, he was the captain of the football team, had ridiculous 8-pack abs, and could make me melt just with his smile. But what really got me was that he was the only person to have the decency to actually return my pen after borrowing it. As far as I was concerned, that was the epitome of sexiness.”
“Well, he missed out. And let’s be honest…you probably dodged a bullet by not dating him. I’d bet money that he peaked in high school.”
“He got a football scholarship to Notre Dame. But sophomore year he busted up his knee and that was the end of that.”
“Okay, stalker.”
I tossed another napkin at him. “Facebook stalking isn’t stalking. And let’s not forget - you’re the one who hired a PI to stalk me.”
“Speaking of my PI…he just texted me and asked if he could swing by to talk to you about Rosalie.”
My heart skipped a beat. “Does that mean he found something?! Is this my surprise?!” If it was, I was 100% going to jump over Tanner’s desk and make out with him.
He shook his head. “Sorry, I should have been more clear. Marty - my PI - has been looking into her disappearance. As part of that, he wants to come interview you. He thought tonight would be best, because he’s found that people can usually recall stuff better near the anniversary of when it happened.”
“Oh.”
“You up for that?”
