Chapter 8

Eight

MAVERICK

"You're coming over for Friendsgiving, right?" Jay asks.

"Only if your fiancée is cooking."

"I cook just fine. But we're actually ordering from A Taste of Magnolia, the food truck in town, so no excuses. You have to be there."

Jay, Wes, and I are working on the heating system at the diner today. Now that we're moving into winter here in Magnolia Point, I look forward to the outside jobs. Crisp, cool air and the smells of Thanksgiving dance around the town. Fall has always been my favorite time of year, and when we quickly slide into Christmas after that, I love the way the neighborhoods come alive with events.

Growing up with Jay and Wes, the three of us were tight from the start. Those two are cousins, their dads are brothers, and why they pulled me in as their third wheel, I'll never know. But I'm grateful. Life was tough growing up being a nerdy kid. Come high school, I wasn't really picked on anymore, but I was ignored. And that possibly hurts more than anything. I just wanted to be noticed and liked. So once I graduated, I made it a point to work out and eat right. Add some bulk and then put myself out there.

I needed to gain confidence in myself. My outward appearance changed and it garnered me more attention, but inside I was still that teenager who was ignored by the pretty girls. I was still that same quiet and scared kid inside, the only thing that changed was my looks, which led me to believe certain women only wanted a pretty face and a fat wallet. How people only talked to others based on their looks never made sense to me. So when women would approach me, I taught myself to make jokes and be overly flirty because women would laugh and not take me so seriously. I could quickly assess if they were down to be my friend, wanted to use me for their own gain, or if they were actually looking for more.

I was the wingman for Jay and Wes, as they were for me. But then Wes found Hazel. Despite them having an on again, off again relationship for years, I'm still not completely sure why they won't commit. But it's not for me to push; they'll eventually figure it out on their own. And Jay? Well, he was publicly embarrassed by his high school sweetheart, and since then, he tiptoed around any love connection until Nina moved to town. Now those two are planning a wedding and all four of them look at me like ‘what are you waiting for'?

"Am I going to be the fifth wheel at this dinner, or what? Why don't you guys do the couple thing then go pick pumpkins or whatever basic bitch fall things couples do together."

"First of all, I like to pick pumpkins, so shut your mouth." I roll my eyes at Wes. "And it's always been us, it's never been a problem before if you had a date or not, so why the issue now?"

"Because now you guys are basically married."

"No one's married yet. Especially not us," Wes responds quickly.

"Either way, I don't want to intrude, and I definitely don't need to see anyone feeding each other cranberry sauce from a spoon."

"Don't knock it till you try it," Wes says.

I punch Wes in his arm as we pull more wiring from the truck. "You know I'll be there, but as soon as it gets too lovey dovey, I'm out."

"We may have a crowd this year," Jay says in passing as he walks by us. I pull on his arm, stopping him in his tracks.

"What does that mean?"

"I mean, Nina invited more friends. It's not just going to be us five."

I put one hand on my hip and point at them with the other. "If you guys are trying to set me up, I'm not coming. And if Princess Author is trying to make another test for me, I'm not coming to your wedding," I declare.

"You tell that to my fiancée and see what happens." He makes a show of slicing his hand across his throat.

"Jay, I'm serious. I've had enough of this bullshit class. I don't need anyone to play matchmaker at dinner too."

"From what I heard, you're doing pretty well." He folds his arms across his chest with a smug grin like he's got a secret.

My brows knit together. "What have you heard?"

"Oh, nothing." His tone tells me it's not nothing .

"You're full of shit."

He laughs and steps a foot closer. "I'll tell you, but it has to stay here."

Wes comes right up alongside me as we stare back at Jay. The situation would normally make me laugh as we look like three gossip mongers, but the fact that the gossip is about me doesn't seem funny at all.

"Nina told me she spoke with Ava. It's clear you've had some kind of love-hate thing with her."

"It's hate-hate. Don't get it twisted."

He rolls his eyes at me. "Keep telling yourself that. "

"Listen, she's hot, I'll give her that. But she's a stick-in-the-mud."

"That's also not what I've heard."

"Just spit it out, will you?" I say, quickly getting annoyed with my best friend.

"The cousin, Maria? You've been out with her right? She's been telling Ava there's more to you than just this outside surface. That you're a good guy. That the banter between you two is classic enemies to lovers and?—"

"Enemies to what? Bruh, if you hit me with some romance-book bullshit right now, I'm quitting."

The two of them laugh. Jay is a reformed undercover romance reader. We knew he read those supermarket novels as a teen, but I figured it was a substitute for Playboy magazine. Turns out, the guy was really falling for the love nonsense. And once he met his librarian, he had no choice but to out himself.

"All she said was that Ava isn't hating having you in the class, and she's impressed with how you've been helping the other two guys there."

I hear what he's saying, but it's not computing. Why is there so much talk about how well I'm doing? "And how do you know all this?"

"Girls talk. A lot. And Nina seems overly invested in your love life right now."

"Why? Are you not keeping her busy at home?" I jab at him.

He chuckles and gives me a look of warning. "When Nina gets something in her head, she pushes until it happens. If she feels she's right about something, she wants everyone around her to agree with it. And for whatever reason, she thinks you and the romance author would make a good pair."

"Well, whatever. Ava can like or hate whatever she wants. I'm there to win now and destroy her little boyfriend-maker dream. And the girls aren't the only ones who have been talking. Maria told me a little inside scoop, so I'm working the angle now."

He scrunches his brows. "Winning and working the angle? Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen."

"Yeah. I'm going to win the kiss at midnight just so I can prove you don't need her tips to get a date. I've already been coaching the two guys there with me."

"Mav, don't do something just to prove you can."

"Isn't that the point though? You guys signed me up for this. What did you think was going to happen?"

Jay and Wes pass a look. "We thought you might fall for the writer."

I huff out a laugh. "Do you want me to fall for the writer, or do you just want me to fall for anyone? Is it because you don't feel comfortable asking me over when I'm the only one not coupled up? You know I don't give a shit about that."

"No, it's not that. I just don't want you drifting because you think we don't want you. Or because you think you're a fifth wheel. You forget we all grew up together, Mav. I know you, Wes knows you. You want to be happy, and you want to find someone just as bad as we both did."

I fidget with my shirt and put on a fake smile, hating that we're still talking about my love life. "See what reading romance gets you? Soft. Man up, Jay. I'm fine."

I walk away from them, getting back to work, but my thoughts swirl. I'm still that third wheel from high school, still that guy who gets no attention or attention for the wrong reason. If it wasn't for Jay and Wes, I'm not sure I would have stayed in Magnolia Point. But it feels to me like they're still working overtime at getting me noticed. I don't want to be a job to them. I just want things to be how they were.