I shake my head, smiling. "You make me sound so classy."
Luke shrugs. "I call it like it is, my friend."
We both look around the room again.
"I don’t know if that’s still my game plan," I say. "I met a girl."
Luke raises his eyebrows at me. "You’re not getting soft, are you?"
I chuckle. "I don’t know, man. This one has me by the balls."
Luke pulls a face. "Hate it when that happens."
I sip my Hennessy. "I can’t figure her out," I say. "She seems interested, but then she rejects me. She throws me curve balls all the time."
Luke shakes his head. "One of
those. Trust me. They never stop teasing. I would move on if I were you. Unless, you know, you like the company, and you’re getting sex with one of the others."
I shake my head. "There are no others right now."
Luke looks incredulous. "What? Are you ill?"
I laugh and shake my head.
"I didn’t peg you for a one-woman kind of guy."
I shrug. What am I supposed to say? Sometimes it only takes one woman to change the grand scheme of things.
"I’ve just been busy, you know?" I say, smoothing it over. I don't want Luke to think I'm whipped. I don't fall for women.
"As soon as I have it all covered again, I’ll get back out there and line them up."
Luke laughs. "Like only you can. That’s my man. I was worried there for a second."
We drink in silence for a while.
"Jessica’s been asking about you," Luke says, breaking the silence. I look at him.
"What?"
"She’s been asking where you are. She hangs around these parts, wanting to ‘accidentally’ run into you or something." Luke lifts his hands and makes quotation marks with his fingers in the air.
I groan. "She’s a piece of work," I say. "Impossible to get rid of."
"At least she puts out," Luke says.
I shake my head. If only Jessica had rejected me, rather than Nicole. My life would be so much easier right now.
Jessica is really starting to frustrate me. I don't feel like dealing with her drama. Bugging me is one thing, but making herself a problem to others is bumping it up to the next level. I don't like it.
"What are you going to do about her?" Luke asks.
I shrug. "What can I do? I’ve been nice. I’ve been mean. Short of a restraining order, I don’t know how I’m going to get rid of her."
Luke laughs. "It’s an option. It'll be ironic, though, for you to get a restraining order against a woman."
I frown. "I don’t get it."