Zane slouches back in his seat and looks around the diner. "Thought you said you didn't talk about me?"
"That last thing was just…some friendly advice."
"Friendly?" He scoffs, and the golden retriever morphs into a rottweiler. "I don't believe you."
"You think I'm lying?"
"I think you don't like me."
"Excuse me?"
I'm not the guy's biggest fan by any means, but I haven't said or done anything directly to him to give him that impression.
"Don't play dumb. You haven't liked me from the moment you laid eyes on me. I know your type all too well: arrogant, judgy douchebags who think the whole world revolves around them."
Well, this just escalated.
"What are you talking about, Zane?"
"Oh, come on. The fake compliment about my hair. My dragon tattoo beingfab. The way you glared at me when I hugged Buzz after the wedding ceremony. I even saw you smiling just before when Grant barked at me to close the door."
Okay, so maybe I've said and donea few thingsto give him that impression.
"Here's the deal," I say, putting my sandwich down and wiping my fingers. "You and I don't have to be friends. But I did what you asked, and I'm simply relaying what Buzz told me."
"I call bullshit."
"Why would I lie to you?"
"Isn't it obvious?"
"I don't follow."
He gathers a handful of hair and sweeps it back over his shoulder. "You like him. Don't you?"
"Uh, yeah, of course I like him. He's my best friend."
"I don't mean like that. I've seen how you look at him."
Okay, now he's really starting to piss me off. "We've met twice. You don't know anything about me."
"Everyone in town thinks you guys belong together."
"Don't believe everything you hear."
He grips the edge of the table hard, his knuckles turning white, and aims his glacial light-blue eyes at me. "I think you like him as more than just a friend?—"
"Best friend," I correct.
"Whatever. And I think you're threatened by me."
I scoff.
He may have been right about a few things—not that I'd ever admit that to him—but he is dead wrong about that.
"I am not threatened by you. Believe me."
He levels me with a glare, his nostrils flaring.
