The Bookworm's Guide to Flirting (The Bookworm's Guide 3)

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

This was escalating.

“I do not have a crush on Dylan. I’m not fourteen.”

“Then why do you keep staring at him over by the bar?”

Damn it.

I jerked my attention back to the table. “We’re friends. Really good friends.”

“Which is a good basis for a relationship,” Kinsley said. “I’m not saying it’s easy, and me and Josh bicker over some stupid shit, but we already knew each other. Like, I wasn’t surprised by his ability to burn toast because I knew it, but it’s still annoying when he leaves the burned toast in the toaster.”

“Why would he leave the burned toast in the toaster?” Tori questioned. “What kind of savage is he?”

“You’ll find out when you eventually date my brother.”

“I am not going to date your brother. Cut that shit out before I cut you.”

Ivy giggled. “It’s just fun to see how in denial you both are. I know. I was there with Kai.”

“I’m not in denial,” Tori ground out. “I cannot stand Colton. I’d rather beat him with a dead ferret than kiss him for even two seconds in a game of Spin the Bottle.”

“The lady doth protest too much,” Kinsley muttered.

“Fine, you’re not in denial,” Ivy replied. “But Saylor sure is.”

“Just because you’re married and a mom doesn’t make you the resident relationship expert.” I sipped my drink.

“Oh, no, it does.”

I sighed. “Fine, okay, say I’m in denial. Say I have issues and Dylan is at the core of them. My point still stands. We’re roommates. I need a roommate, and I don’t want the uncertainty of having to find a new one. How would you get around that?”

Nobody said a word. The booming sounds of some pop song I hadn’t heard filled the bar, and I looked at my best friends one by one.

“Exactly.” There. Boom. I won.

“I think you have to take a risk,” Kinsley said slowly. “I was terrified when Josh admitted how he felt about me and knowing that he’d felt that way for a long time was really scary. What if we dated and it went wrong? Colt was furious at first, so what if we upset him for no reason because it didn’t work out?”

“And look how long it took me to get over my issues with Seb,” Holley added, pulling her glasses off to clean them. “That was no picnic, and sometimes I still have moments where I wonder if this is going to work out. It was a risk to start a relationship, especially when there was a chance he’d be away a lot of the year.”

Another sigh escaped me, and I finished the rest of my cocktail.

“But the difference is that they do live together, and so her risks are different to all of ours,” Ivy said, reaching out and squeezing my hand. “Look, Say, as much as we all get on at you, it’s your decision, regardless of how you feel. For all your fears it could go wrong, there’s an equal chance that it could go right. You’ll have regrets either way. Just know that it’s not the end of the world if you decide to cross the line with him.”

“Cross the line with who?” Josh asked, leading the guys back to the table.

“Tori,” Ivy said without batting an eyelid. “We’re talking about a guy she knows through work.”

Colton frowned. “What guy?”

“None of your business,” Tori sniped.

Yeah. There was nothing going on there. Snort.

“We got shots!” Seb put a tray down on the table, and boy, was that a tray of shots.

Too many shots.

It looked and tasted like regret already.

So, naturally, I grabbed my shot and threw it back like it was nothing.

Yep.

That was it.

That was the regret right there.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN – SAYLOR

RULE FOURTEEN: ALCOHOL DOES NOT HELP YOU FLIRT. QUITE THE OPPOSITE.

“I am seriously impressed,” Dylan said, swigging from his beer. “Can she do Eminem?”

“I’ve heard her do it,” I replied, keeping my gaze trained on Kinsley on the karaoke stage as she busted out Golddigger by Kanye West like it was second nature. “But it’s quite a lot sober, so when she’s drunk it’s harder for her.”

“I’ve never seen anyone rap Kanye quite like this. Especially someone as… quiet… as she is.”

“It’s kind of her thing. Wait until you see Josh, Colt, and Kai do Bohemian Rhapsody.”

“I love that song. Do they need a fourth member?”

“No. They have three members too many as it is.”

He grinned. “Sounds like they need a fourth.”

I shook my head, but he got up anyway and headed right for them. I almost face-palmed at the thought of them all teaming up, but when Kinsley finished her Kanye impression and someone I didn’t recognize took up Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by Cindy Lauper, I realized them doing the Queen classic wasn’t that much of a bad thing.

Mostly.

I hoped.

Maybe I was being a little optimistic.