In a sense. If he could figure out how to change Annie’s mind about love, it might help him better understand the disconnect for that jaded 30 percent of dating app users.
“Kind of? This is more of a... personal project.”
His fingers started to ache, the tendon crossing the meat of his thumb cramping.
“Personal—” Margot exhaled roughly and muttered something he couldn’t quite make out under her breath. “Get down here.”
He let his feet dangle and breathed through the burn in his shoulders before dropping to the ground, knees bent to cushion his landing. Margot wiped the back of her hand against her forehead, leaving a trail of chalk dust against her skin.
“Someonewho?”
Brendon crouched down, digging his water bottle out of his gym bag. With his teeth, he tugged on the spout, tipping the bottle back and drinking deep, draining half in one swallow. He ran his hand against his mouth and sighed. “Darcy’s friend Annie flew into town yesterday.”
Margot’s eyes widened gleefully. “Annie?As in the girl you had a total hard-on for as a kid? The girl you—”
He held up a hand, stopping her before she could mortifyhim further. He was going to have alongtalk with Darcy about what was and wasn’t acceptable to share about his childhood. Telling her girlfriend was one thing, but sharing in the presence of her girlfriend’s roommate? Who happened to be his friend? His friend who took great joy in giving him shit? Out of bounds.
“Yes, that Annie. She wanted to surprise Darcy by visiting. I had to drop off her spare key.”
“Well, well, well. Suddenly your Saturday morning crisis makes all the sense.”
“I’m not having a crisis. I just need to prove a point.”
“Aboutlove.” She drew the word out, giving it several extra syllables. “To the girl you used tobein love with. Interesting.”
He was beginning to rethink asking Margot for help since it looked like all she was going to do was rag on him. “It’s not interesting. At dinner, she said—”
“Dinner? What happened to you having a date with Diana?”
“Danielle,” he said, correcting her. “And I canceled. Or, rescheduled.”
Danielle was going out of town to visit family in Lake Chelan and they’d agreed to play their rain check by ear.
Margot smirked at him. “So that you could go on a date with Annie instead. I see how it is.”
She really didn’t. “That’s—that’s not how it was.” He cupped the back of his neck, his skin burning beneath his palm. “It wasn’t a date.”
Margot lay down on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. She hugged her knee to her chest, stretching out her hamstrings. “Dinner is the quintessential first date.”
“People have to eat, Margot.” He sighed. “We’re getting off topic. We had dinner. We talked. Annie told me, get this—she believes romance is dead. I told her I was going to prove her wrong, but honestly? I’m stumped. Setting her up with someone is off the table; she’s only in town for a little over two weeks and I don’t know her type well enough to know someone, off the top of my head, who’d mesh well with her.”
And not that he’d admit it, but the thought of setting Annie up with someone put a terrible taste in his mouth.
“The app? Can’t you just get her to download OTP and problem solved?”
That was a hard no; she’d made her thoughts on dating apps clear. “I think dating apps might be part of the problem.”
He needed to think outside the box. Something he was usually stellar at.
Margot frowned. “It’s times like these I truly pity your Venus-Mars placements.”
What the fuck. “Margot.”
“I’m just saying.” She held up her hands. “You poor little Aries Venus, Cancer Mars. You are a funky cinnamon roll who knows what he wants but not how to get it.”
She tutted, shaking her head. Her exaggerated pout gave away the fact she was fucking with him.
“Can you be serious for a second?” he begged. “I’m asking for your help.”
