Uncomfortable

Chapter 6

“Hey, man, where’d you go last night?” My friend, Jameson, asks from my bedroom doorway. He has a habit of not knocking, but that’s what happens when you’ve been friends with someone since the third grade, and in all those years, I don’t think he’s ever knocked on my door—here in the frat house or at my parents’ house—even once. Not that I care.

“Walked Krystal home.” I look up from the homework spread across my desk.

“The girl from the kitchen?”

I nod. “The very same.”

Jameson strolls slowly into the room and sits carefully on the edge of my bed, stretches his long legs in front of him. Barely a moment later, he plants his feet flat on the floor and leans forward to rest his elbows on his thighs, crosses his arms. He wants to ask me something. After all these years of friendship, we can read each other easily, and right now, Jameson wants to say something he doesn’t know how I’m going to react to.

“Spit it out, man.”

Jameson sighs and raises an apologetic gaze to meet mine. “I need a favor.”

I raise my eyebrows and wave my hand to indicate he should continue.

“So, you know how Jules has been hounding me to find a girlfriend ever since she started dating Cameron?”

Jules, Jameson’s twin sister, has become almost obsessed with helping her brother “find true love” ever since making it official with Cameron Lake, reformed playboy and captain of the soccer team. She seems convinced that if Cameron can successfully make the switch from promiscuity to monogamy that any man can and should. Starting with her brother. Luckily, I’m not on her radar. Yet.

“Uh huh…”

“Well, she set me up with a girl, and I think I might actually kind of like this one.” Jameson sounds almost hopeful. In a way I’ve never heard from him before. He’s not usually the type of guy to go all soft for a girl he’s just met, but it has been a while since he’s dated. Maybe he’s lonely.

‘That’s good,” I say, but his expression turns concerned. “Right?”

He nods emphatically. “No, yeah, it’s definitely good. But…” He trails off, worrying his fingers nervously in front of him.

“Jameson…” I push.

He exhales heavily, then launches into a flurry of words. “I really like this girl, man, and I think she likes me, too, but she won’t go out with me alone. Something about not knowing me well enough or something. So, she wants to go on a double date. She has a friend who’s free tomorrow night, but I need to bring a friend too.”

It takes a moment for me to catch up, for his words to sink in. “You want me to go on a double date with you?”

“Yeah.” Jameson’s expression is solemn. He knows exactly what he’s asking of me.

“No.”

“Come on, man, please. It’s not like it’s a real date. I’m sure this girl isn’t expecting you to be her knight in shining armor or anything. I wouldn’t ask you if there were anyone else, and I really like this girl. And I swear I will never ask you to do anything like this again. I’ll pay for everything, the whole meal.”

I stare at him, trying to process his flurry of words. Trying to decide. I know Jameson means it when he says he wouldn’t be asking me if he had any other options.

He must take my silence as a rejection because he tries again, “I’ll get my dad’s box seats for the next Hawk’s game.”

That does sound tempting. His dad has some killer season tickets. “Three,” I finally answer.

“Three?” He’s not following.

“Three games. I want your dad’s tickets for the next three games.”

Jameson lights up and jumps to his feet. “Deal! Thanks, man, you won’t regret this. I’m going to call Miranda and let her know.”

And then he’s gone. And I’m locked into a date I have zero desire to go on.