He was quick to correct. “That’s not what I meant…at all. You have every reason to be in a funk right now. And, of course, you’ve grown up a lot. I was more referring to the nostalgia of thinking about the connection we had back then. We lost touch when I went away to UF. And after that, it was never really the same between you and me. That’s what happens when you’re young. We evolve. But the mark of true friendship is that you can still come full circle, even if life circumstances change.”
“I always knew you’d be there for me if I ever needed you, but I never would’ve imagined that I’d be sitting in a bar in Boston with you and certainly wouldn’t have dreamt that we’d be living together.”
“It’s fate. The timing was right. The job brought me here, but the universe knew you really needed someone to give you a good kick in the ass.”
“Have you started reading The Law of Attraction? You mentioned the universe…”
He winked. “I might have.”
“I hope you don’t think I’m a whack job after you get done with it.”
“I’m surprised at how much I’m liking it, actually. And I think that what the book teaches about manifesting your own destiny can help you get over the R word if you apply it correctly.”
“You can say his name. I won’t freak out. I’m done crying over it.”
Channing tapped my foot with his under the table. “Good.”
“I just need to hit a reset button on my life.”
He smacked the table. “There it is, the new R word. Reset.”
“Love that.” I sighed. “You know, my problem is…I’ve never dated. I never had to because I was always with Rory. I feel like I don’t really know how to handle myself in that situation. I’m like a fish out of water.”
“So, let’s practice.”
“How?”
“We’ll pretend to be two people who are just meeting here. I can stay in character if you can. It’ll be like improv.”
“Oh, boy.” I laughed. This sounded crazy but kind of fun at the same time. “I guess I should take advantage of the opportunity to practice with a true expert.” When he suddenly got up, I asked, “Where are you going?”
“I need to enter the bar, pretend like I’m just meeting you.” He winked. “Just wing it, alright?”
“Alright.” I took a long sip of my drink.
Channing exited the building then reentered.
He was apparently not fooling around. He actually went to the bar and ordered a beer before his head slowly turned toward me. When his gaze met mine, his mouth curled into a sly smile. I covered my mouth in laughter before he gave me a scolding look with his eyes. He was silently reprimanding me for not taking this seriously. It was in that moment that I vowed to get my shit together and actually play along.
The only problem was, I couldn’t stop laughing and worse: I got the hiccups. Whenever I laughed really hard, I would always get the worst case of them. Channing was cracking up now, too, because he remembered my hiccup issue. It used to happen to me all of the time when we were younger.
When the laughter died down, the sexy smirk returned to Channing’s face as he once again moved into character, playing the role of my mysterious suitor.
Flirtatiously twirling my hair with my index finger, I returned his smile.
When he began to walk toward me, I actually got goosebumps. My physical reaction was no different than if this was actually happening.
“Are you alone?” he asked.
My heartbeat sped up. “Yes.”
“Mind if I join you?”
“Not at all.”
He pulled out a chair and sat down. “I’m Channing.” He held out his hand, and when I took it, his touch felt electric. My nipples hardened. Maybe this wasn’t such a great idea.
“My name is Amber.” Hiccup.
“Well, excuse you. You okay there?”
“Yeah, I just get the hiccups when I laugh too hard. You made me laugh earlier.”
“Is that so?” His tone was so flirtatious.
“Yeah.”
“You know, I used to have a friend who hiccuped whenever she laughed too hard. You know what I would do to her?”
“What?”
“I would scare the living daylights out of her when she least expected it. That’s supposed to make them go away.”
“Please don’t do that to me,” I said seriously. It used to annoy me when he’d startle me.
“Well, what’s a beautiful, hiccuping girl like yourself doing alone in a bar anyway?”
“Just relaxing, having a drink.”
Over the course of the next thirty minutes, Channing stayed in character, asking me question after question about my job and personal interests—as if we were meeting each other for the very first time. Honestly, it was freaky how real it felt. I found myself getting lost in the experience, almost forgetting who we were and the purpose of the skit. He was so engaging and easy to talk to. Something told me that this wasn’t exactly how it would be with most guys I’d pick up in a bar. I wasn’t going to admit this to him, but if this were real, I’d be totally sold on him right now.