Dear Heart, I Hate You

“I can’t wait,” she said with a small smile.

“Me either.” Leaning in to give her one last kiss, I waited for her to open her door and walk all the way inside before I headed back to the elevator.

• • •

When I walked back through my room’s door a few minutes later, I was nearly knocked over by a rapid-fire barrage of pillows.

“What the hell? Those had better be yours!”

“Where were you?” Lucas said from his now pillowless bed.

Frowning as I stepped over all the pillows on the floor, I said, “Just walking Jules to her room.”

“Jules, that hot blonde I saw you with downstairs?” He waggled his eyebrows.

“Yeah. How was your date? Why are you back already?”

“Exactly,” he said with a groan. “Why am I back already?”

“Because y

our date sucked? No pun intended,” I said with a grin as I walked into the bathroom to brush my teeth and get ready for bed.

“You’re hilarious. Tell me about Jules.” Lucas stepped into the doorway before moving to the edge of the bathtub and making himself comfortable.

I stopped brushing my teeth and talked around the toothpaste in my mouth. “There’s nothing to tell. Except, oh yeah, you’re not coming with me to Coop’s game tomorrow. Sorry.” I delivered the news quickly, hoping he wouldn’t throw a complete fit.

“Seriously? You meet this girl, what, four hours ago, and I’m already getting pushed aside for her? Not cool, man. Not fucking cool at all. You’re a dick.” He scowled at me, and I almost felt bad.

“I know,” I said before rinsing out my mouth.

It was sort of a dick move, but Lucas had seen Cooper play a hundred times. And Lucas didn’t even like hockey. He only went to the games so he could meet the other players and see if any played for his team.

A small smile appeared. “I’m just messing with you. It’s cool. But I can’t believe you’re bringing some chick you just met to a game. Are you feeling all right?”

When he stood up and placed a hand on my forehead, I gave him a little shove.

I tried not to read too much into his words. Jules was going back to California soon enough, and that would be that.

After wiping my face with a towel, I said, “She’s fun. And she leaves in two days, so I figured, what the hell?”

I actually hadn’t figured what the hell. I hadn’t thought this through at all. When I asked Jules to come with me to Cooper’s game, it was because I genuinely wanted her there. All the potential reasons why hadn’t even crossed my mind. Until now.

“She leaves in two days?”

“Yeah, she’s just here for a conference.”

“Where’s she from?”

“California.”

“So you plan on hanging out with her until she goes back home?” He sat back down on the edge of the tub and cocked his head to the side, his brow creased.

I shrugged. “Yeah. Why? What’s wrong with that?”

His smirk reappeared. “Nothing. That sounds like a great idea.”

“Then why are you acting like I’m crazy? Just spit it out already,” I demanded as my patience with this stupid conversation faded.