“And that’s why you don’t have a boyfriend.” Felix clicked his seat belt closed before starting the car. “The last one was what, three years ago? He left with most of your possessions, and I couldn’t even get you to file a police report on him.”
“Hey, some of that stuff he paid for.” Leo slumped into his seat and chewed his candy bar. Felix could really dive into him about old boyfriends, even though Felix’s record wasn’t much better.
“But not all.”
Leo’s phone vibrated in his pants pocket. He struggled to get it out while the seat belt fought him to prevent him from reaching it in time. He glanced at the caller ID before answering it. “It’s Julie. Didn’t you call her and tell her we’d be late?”
“Shit, I knew I forgot something. And we’re not going to be late.” Felix sped through a yellow light. “We’ll be right on time. Tell her to save us a couple of seats.”
“Hey, Julie, we’re on our way.” Leo tried to sound more cheerful than he felt but could tell he came across as tired.
“You guys better be. This was Felix’s idea,” she replied without a “Hey, how are you?”
“I got caught on a call. But we’re on the way and not that far now.” Leo grabbed hold of the door as Felix turned a corner a little too fast, and the tires screeched.
“Tell Felix not to kill both of you with his driving. I heard those tires of his screeching.”
“Okay. Save us a couple of seats.”
“Fine.” She hung up.
“She sounds pissed.” Leo slipped his phone back into his pocket, amazed at how easily it went in after the major fight to get it out.
“I bet she’s PMSing or something.” Felix swung the Honda into the parking lot at the library.
Leo swallowed the last bite of his candy bar. “That’s your excuse for everything she does. You know women aren’t always PMSing.”
Felix hit the brakes just in time to land them in a parking place not far from the main door. “Are you sure about that? When can she start menopause? Maybe that’s her problem all the time.”
“Or maybe she’s like you—just a bit bitchy?” Leo waited until the car was turned off before he unfastened his seat belt.
“I think you’d be bitchy too if the two of you were the only people you hung out with.” Felix got out of the car.
Leo shut his door and heard the click of the locks engaging as he and Felix hurried toward the library. “You know, that doesn’t even sound right. If Julie and I were the only people I was hanging out with, then I’d just be hanging out with Julie.”
“Don’t start.” Felix opened the first door and held it for Leo. “We’re here to begin our adventures at doing something to get all of us out of the house.”
Leo caught his reflection in the glass and realized he still had a pressed-down groove across the back of his auburn hair where his headset had sat for the past nine hours. He combed his hands through it, hoping to erase the mark. “I had headset hair. Is it gone?”
Felix barely looked at him. “Sure. You look fine. It’s not like you’ll actually meet a man in here. Most of these people are going to be just like us, trying to find some reason to get off the couch.”
“But you never know.” Leo gave his hair a final comb as they passed the first row of bookshelves and hurried toward the meeting room where the class was being held. “We could meet people like us who wouldn’t be opposed to finding something more to spice up their lives.” Even as he spoke, Leo realized how pathetic he sounded. He didn’t like sounding sad and boring, but that was who he was. He lived alone with his cat, Sofi. Neither he nor Felix nor Julie Barnaird really fit into the bar scene. They spent lots of time together, and inevitably their conversations always turned to how none of them had any kind of love life. He wouldn’t complain if he could find a man who was interested in him. Unfortunately, he normally managed to attract every loser who was more desperate than he was. Most of them didn’t have his high moral sense and tended to show their stripes within six months of meeting him.
As they walked into the meeting room, there were only three other people seated at the tables, which were arranged in a U-shape around one of the most stunning men he’d ever seen. It was all Leo could do to tear his eyes away from the large blond, stay in Felix’s wake, and make it over to the seats next to Julie.
“You two are right on time.” The big man flashed a perfect smile, and Leo thought his heart was going to burst free of his body and fly across the small room to sit in the man’s large hands.
With his hand on his chair and his eyes on the instructor, Leo managed to fumble sitting and crashed to the floor. As Julie and Felix rushed to his aid, a wave of acute embarrassment washed over him, and he wanted to crawl under the table and hide until he could make a break for it. God, I’m such a klutz, and he saw the whole thing.
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