“Works for me.” The thought of sitting next to Jax reading actually made me more excited for my unproductive weekend. How was I already so comfortable with her that something like that sounded so enjoyable? We’d only been roommates for a week. Before that, I would have said Jax put me on edge.One week and she’s already a calming presence for me? How strange.
I shook these thoughts from my head. Overthinking was something theoldCarter would have done. No need to harpon things that didn’t really matter. “Now for number seven. We could add things that would be good practice for future dates, like…” As I tried to think of ideas, a notification popped up on my phone for the meal delivery service Jax and I had signed up for the other day.Perfect.“Cooking! You can cook some meals with me. It’ll be good practice in case you ever want to do it for thatfuture hot ass girlfriendof yours.”
“Plus a great roomie bonding experience,” Jax said with a wink.
That damn wink.
“What are some other cute date ideas? I need to know how to really impress a woman.”
I was pretty sure Jax could impress a woman with her looks alone, and her personality only added to her allure. I wasn’t going to say that, though, because I didn’t want to open the door to more flirting. “I always kind of wished someone would take me on a picnic.” I shrugged. “Might be lame, but I always thought it seemed super romantic.”
“I’ll take you on a picnic,” Jax said quickly, her voice going up an octave with the words. “You know, for practice,” she added with a more subdued tone.
Looking over the list, it seemed Jax was going to be doing more practicing than actual dating. “What do you mean by ‘mock meeting of parental units’exactly?”
“I’ll have someone who’s never met them, like you…” Jax cut herself off and stared at me, softly chewing on her bottom lip as if she was suddenly nervous. “Or someone else. Just someone who hasn’t met them. I’ll have them come home with me and hang out. Obviously, I’m not going to pretend that we’re dating for my parents or anything, but I can kind of feel out what it’s like. Have you ever been skiing?”
I could barely keep up with Jax’s rambling, but I did catch the skiing part. “No. I’m so clumsy, I think I might die.”
“I’m from Vermont and the skiing is great. If you decide to be my person for my mock parent meeting, I could teach you. I promise I won’t let you die.”
“Let’s see if you still want to take me by ski season. Who knows. By then you might be able to take youractualgirlfriend.” I figured that would end up being the case. If Jax even put the littlest effort into dating, she could find someone. I was actually surprised she hadn’t stumbled into a relationship in the same way Olivia had by now.
“Which brings us to the last item.” Jax wrote something down and held it out toward me again. “Once I meet someone, I’ll have you come on a double date with us so you can let me know how I do.”
“I don’t really date.”
Jax tilted her head and furrowed her eyebrows at me. “And you don’t want to?”
I shrugged. The problem wasn’t whetherIwanted to date someone. The problem was finding someone who wanted to dateme.Boring old me. “I’m a workaholic nerd. I’m sure that’s not on the top of anyone’s list of what they’re looking for.”
“You haven’t seen my list yet.”
There was that flirting again. Did this girl ever stop? “Enough list talk for now. We can start sometime this week, but not today.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Jax stood from the couch and squeezed my shoulder. “You know where to find me.”
Even if I didn’t already realize she was going to her room, I would have figured it out, because I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her.What the heck is wrong with me?
Chapter 5
A week had passed since making our lists, and the only thing I had accomplished from mine was staring at a blank word document for a few minutes a day then slamming my computer shut when I was unable to come up with any ideas.
Jax hadn’t mentioned the lists once since that day. I wasn’t sure if that was because she was letting me decide when we started, or if she was such a free spirit that she wasn’t even thinking about it.
I was sitting at Serenity Sips on a Saturday afternoon, reading the new book I had just started, when Jax came over and sat down beside me.
“Are you done already?” I asked as I blinked up at the clock.
“No. I just snuck away so I could ask you if you want to go out tonight. Luis said the crew is going clubbing.”
As much as I wanted to be a new person, clubbing had never really been my thing, and I didn’t think it ever would be.But should I go?
“You really don’t have to,” Jax said before I could answer. “I can tell you don’t want to. Honestly, I’m happy to stay home with you if you want me to. It’s taking me longer and longer to recover from nights out. It’s not like we do it all the time by any means, but I’m definitely not the same person I was at twenty-one, so every time we do, I feel like I’m useless for the next few days.”
I didn’t know Jax well enough yet to know if she was offering just to be nice. Plus, the last thing I wanted was for her group of friends to think that I was responsible for makingher boring. “You should go. I’m probably going to work on brainstorming my book a little tonight.”
Jax’s face lit up. “Really? That’s amazing! If you’re still awake when I get back, I want to hear all about what you came up with.”
